Fractured
by Nurse Betty Page
Summary: When Munch falls in love with a successful but emotionally fragile poet named Lisa, it seems he has finally found the love of his life. But when Munch is later on gravely injured by an old enemy, will his new love be able to help him recover, even though the ordeal has left her on the brink of a nervous breakdown? And what can Olivia do to help? (Pairing: Munch X OC).
1. Chapter 1

**Fractured**

 **Author note:**

 **This story is AU. It is set around the time of Season 2. This is a Munch fic. The Pairings are Munch/OC also with some EO.**

* * *

 **Summary:**

 **When Cragen gets a call to inform him a prisoner has been released, Munch is called into his office to be offered protection, because convicted sex offender, Russian born Vik Dimitry once vowed, when released,to kill the cop who arrested him – and that cop was John Munch, who had handled the case back in his days with Homicide. But Munch dismisses his fears, assuming Vik will do nothing to jeopardise his new found freedom.**

 **Then Munch attends a reading and book signing by celebrated English poet Lisa Linton, and from that meeting grows a passionate love affair as John Munch falls heavily for the fragile and often unstable writer-despite attempts by her agent Greg Volkov to come between them.**

 **Then a rape is reported that bears all the hallmarks of Dimitry, with some additional disturbing facts emerging that suggests perhaps the killer has moved on from rape and murder to filming the depraved acts to be sold on the underground market. But lack of proof at the crime scene leaves Alex Cabot unable to build a credible case, and as the team continue to wait for the perp to make another move, they learn Dimitry has been shot dead and the murder seems to indicate a gangland killing - and then the case goes cold, and John Munch forgets all about the threats once made by the late Vik Dimitry.**

 **Munch continues his love affair with Lisa, as neither realise that Dimitry was linked closely to Greg Volkov, who is secretly hatching a plan that will involve eliminating Lisa's new police detective lover...**

 **When Munch goes missing, the link between Dimitry and Greg is uncovered, and after the team track down Greg Volkov, it is almost too late for Munch, who has been beaten and left with life threatening injuries.**

 **Then Benson and Stabler have no choice but to bring her in for questioning – and after it becomes clear that fragile Lisa can offer no information, she is finally released. But with Greg refusing to talk and Munch facing a long recovery, a vital piece of evidence is missing - and only Lisa can unlock the mystery to its whereabouts, if Liv can help her to remember...**

 **But it soon becomes clear to Liv that Lisa is not coping as well as she claims, and so Liv offers to help, and becomes closer to Lisa, but secretly fears for the outcome:**

 _ **It seems that fragile Lisa is dangerously close to a breakdown after all she has been through, and Liv not only fears for the collapse of the case because Lisa can offer no new information regarding hard evidence, but she also fears for Munch, who faces a difficult recovery - something that may not happen at all if he loses Lisa, who has a long history of mental breakdown and suicide attempts...**_

* * *

 **Rated M : Story contains scenes of a sexual nature, romantic love making, adult themes and discussions, scenes of violence, also some drug taking. Also this fic is a heavy, _heavy_ emotional roller coaster.**

* * *

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing related to SVU. I write for love of the fandom.**

* * *

 **Additional Note:**

 **The poem 'Mad Girls Love Song' featured at the opening of Chapter One is the property of the late, great Sylvia Plath. All other verse featured in this book and quoted as the work of the character 'Lisa Linton' is the copyrighted property of the (very much) alive novel writer and poet Aline Riva.**

* * *

Chapter 1

 _ **I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead;**_

 _ **I lift my lids and all is born again.**_

 _ **(I think I made you up inside my head.)**_

 _ **The stars go waltzing out in blue and red,**_

 _ **And arbitrary blackness gallops in:**_

 _ **I shut my eyes and all the world drops dead.**_

 _ **I dreamed that you bewitched me into bed**_

 _ **And sung me moon-struck, kissed me quite insane.**_

 _ **(I think I made you up inside my head.)**_

 _ **~ Sylvia Plath, Mad Girl's Love Song ~**_

"You wanted to see me?"

As Munch said those words, Cragen nodded.

"Have a seat, John. I need to talk to you about something."

Munch sat down and looked over at Cragen, who was seated behind his desk with a troubled look in his eyes.

"You probably remember a case back in the days when you worked for homicide – Viktor Dimitry? Rapist who liked to play rough - one of his victims died from her injuries."

Munch recalled it right away.

"Russian guy, mixed up with gangland crimes until they found out he was a sex case."

"That's right," Cragen replied, "He was becoming a liability so the mob turned him over to the cops. _You_ busted him."

"And he threatened to kill me when he got out. That was years ago, cap."

" _He's out now."_

"And you think I should be worried?"

Cragen shook his head.

"I don't know. I just wanted to ask you if you had concerns, because if you do -"

"No, I'm not concerned," Munch replied, "He's been in jail for years. He won't want to go back there. I can't see him turning up here and carrying out a threat like that."

"You don't want protection while we track him down and see what he's up to?"

"I'm really not concerned. It was too long ago."

Cragen looked at him intently.

"Are you sure about this?"

Munch didn't need to think about his reply.

"If I took every threat made against me seriously, every time I arrested someone, I'd be spending my whole life in hiding. I'll be fine."

"You're sure?"

Munch got up from his seat.

"Very sure. And I've got work to do."

He left the office and as he closed the door, Captain Cragen gave a sigh, as he silently wished he could impose protection on his colleague, because Viktor had been considered highly dangerous prior to his arrest, but then he thought on all Munch had said, and reasoned that he was probably right...

* * *

It was coming close to the end of the day.

Fin was tied up with paperwork. El went over to Liv's desk, placed a coffee on it and slowly turned it in a semi circle, clockwise as he spoke softly to her. She turned her head slightly, said something back, their fingertips brushed as he drew his hand away and she turned the cup anti clockwise. All the while they never broke eye contact. Then he said he would see her in five minutes, and went back to his own desk to tidy it before leaving work.

 _Munch stopped watching._

 _He knew about Liv and El, because he missed nothing._

 _No one else knew, and he hoped it would stay that way, because getting too close could cost one or both of them their jobs if Cragen found out..._

But he wasn't going to concern himself with their business. He got up and put on his coat and hat and turned for the door.

"How come the guy who always stays late is leaving _early_?" said Fin, and as Munch looked back, Fin smiled.

"Got a date?"

Munch smiled back at his colleague and shook his head.

"No," he replied, and then he walked away, looking forward to an evening that would not be spent yet again alone in front of the TV – tonight, he was going out.

* * *

After going home for a shower and a change of clothes, Munch had got back in his car and headed over to a large hotel, where he parked his car, got out and then went into the hotel, and after making an enquiry, headed off towards a large conference hall on the ground floor. Tonight he was going to hear reading from Lisa Linton, an award-winning English poet, and hoped to get his copy of her book signed too.

As he walked in and headed to the front to grab a good seat before the place got too crowded, he caught sight of her:

He recognised her from the picture he had seen on the back of her book – she was just under average height, slender, and her honey coloured hair fell to her shoulders. Her bright blue eyes were striking but her gaze darted about the room nervously as she noticed the seats were filling up. She turned to speak to a male companion, who wore a designer shirt beneath an expensive suit, and as she spoke, he opened up a door that led to a smaller room, and she followed him inside.

From where he sat, Munch watched, at first out of curiosity, failing to ignore how shapely she looked in her dark jeans and her tight black top - and then through the partly open door, he saw the man in the suit grab her by the wrist.

She tried to pull away, but he kept his grip firm.

 _Too firm._

John Munch took off his coat, left it over the back of the seat and walked towards the next room, carrying his ID in his hand.

* * *

Lisa Linton tried again to free herself from the grip of Greg Volkov, her agent, but he squeezed so hard the pain was bruising.

" _Let go!"_ she said as she struggled to keep her voice down, _"Do you think this will help? Will it? Will it help me to get up there and face all those people? ...I can't, I can't do it...you're making it worse and worse and WORSE! LET GO!"_

As Greg's anger rose and he pulled her towards him, a police ID came between him and Lisa, and he let her go abruptly, turning sharply with a look of alarm in his dark eyes.

"Police," said Munch, "Is everything okay here, Ms Linton?"

As Munch looked at her, he saw a nervous, jittery woman who visibly relaxed as she breathed a sigh, and the look in her eyes confirmed she was glad of his intervention.

"I was having a _private_ conversation with Lisa," said her companion, and as she ran shaking fingers through her hair and tried to compose herself, the man spoke again, "I'm Greg Volkov, Ms Linton's agent. There is nothing to concern you here, officer."

"That's _Detective_ _Munch_ to you," he corrected him, "And from what I saw, you need to keep your hands _off_ this lady."

Greg stood there as anger smouldered in eyes briefly shaded by his chestnut hair, then he swept it off his face and spoke again.

"Lisa gets nervous. I was helping her."

"Not bullying her? My mistake, then?"

"Ten minutes," Greg said, shooting a glance to Lisa. Be ready."

Munch watched as he left the room, and then he turned back to Lisa.

She was shorter than him and as she looked up at him she smiled.

"Thanks. He can get a bit heavy handed sometimes."

Munch smiled, liking the sound of her accent. Greg's accent was also English, but with another accent in the mix, he definitely wasn't as English as Lisa was...

"Volkov...that's Russian?"

"He was born in Russia, left when he was a child," she replied, "And it's thanks to him I'm where I am today. Really, he's not as bad as he seems, it's my fault, I get nervous...I panic...and crowds can set me off."

"And bullying you isn't exactly helping."

"It's my fault," she said again, and he instantly felt sure that Greg was in the habit of treating her badly, and then blaming it on her nervousness.

"It's not your fault," he promised her, "And I want you to remember that. Also, I'm in the front row so you don't have to worry about Greg barking orders at you while you're out there."

Lisa had already decided that she liked him. His voice was as gentle as his gaze, and he was older than her but handsome with it.

"You've decided to protect me, Detective?"

Munch smiled.

"I'm a cop, it's instinct. Maybe I'll see you after the reading, I was hoping you might sign a book for me."

"I'd love to, Detective Munch," she replied.

"Call me John," he told her, and as she met his gaze she felt it again – a deep attraction to this man, a pull towards him that felt too good to fight...

"Okay John, I'll see you later," she replied.

* * *

After Munch went back to the hall and sat down, he listened for ten minutes as Greg spoke about Lisa and her work, and then after receiving applause, Lisa took his place,and for the next hour, Munch was captivated as he listened to her talk about her life and her early work, and then she read from her collection to a silent room, showing not a trace of the nervousness he had see whilst being pushed around by Greg.

As she read, occasionally she would glance about the room,and every time her gaze fell on Munch, their eyes met and he saw a hint of a smile, and he smiled too.

It was as if the two of them had acknowledged their liking for one another already, John felt it as much as she did, and when she had finished her reading, he lingered behind, waiting for her to sign books, but ensuring he was the very last in the queue, because he wanted to speak to her now it was over and everyone else was leaving.

He had no idea if he was doing the right thing when he finally went up to her and the room was almost empty, and sat down and handed her his copy of her book.

"What would you like me to say?" she asked him as the pen hovered over the open book on the first page.

Munch drew in a deep breath and took a chance.

"How about _Yes John, dinner would be perfect?_ " and then he smiled.

She looked up from the book and met his gaze, and as she looked into his dark eyes, she smiled too - and he knew that the answer was most definitely _Yes_...

* * *

Lisa took him up to her suite at the hotel.

She ordered room service and dinner was brought to the room by hotel staff, then they ate together at a table by a window while she laughed about how all expenses were on Greg, and told Munch some more about how she had met him, and how he had promised her they would both make money from her talent.

"I think I can trust him," she had added later, as she cleared away the plates and placed the coffee on the table, "I don't have to _like_ him to do that."

"How long are you staying in New York?" Munch asked as she sat down again.

"I don't know," she replied, "Greg has business associates to look up and some deals to iron out. I don't pay any attention to the business side of things, that's why he's here – to do the work for me. I spin the straw into gold but he sells the gold."

John drank some coffee and put it down again, looking at her thoughtfully across the table before he asked his next question.

"So you and Greg are just friends...is there anyone else in your life, a boyfriend back home, maybe?"

She smiled as she shook her head.

"I have a daughter. She's eighteen. Her father left as soon as he found out I was pregnant. I had a few tries at new starts but never met the right one and ended up bringing her up on my own."

" _That explains it."_

Her eyes widened.

"Explains what?" she wondered.

"The poems about your daughter."

Now she understood. She leant on the table and paused for a moment as she gathered up her thoughts, and then she spoke again:

" _You are mine, every perfect inch of you, every tantrum and pinch of you, every mess you make and every piece of scattered cake, no matter for it is all of you, the things you are, the things you do. Your laughter is divine and beautiful like your sea grey eyes - mine, all mine."_

Munch smiled.

"I liked that one."

"Do you have any kids?"

He shook his head.

"I've had several tries at marriage and then I stopped trying."

She caught a shade of sadness in his voice.

"It's never too late to try for anything. I'm forty now – I was thirty seven when I started writing again. And then I became a success."

"You look good for it," he admitted, "I mean, you don't look old enough to have a grown up daughter."

She smiled again and as she looked into his eyes, she felt her heart skip a beat.

"And you," she replied, "Are a _very_ attractive man, John Munch."

His face flushed and he looked away briefly, feeling sure if Fin or El had been handed such a compliment they would have taken it without a trace of shyness. Then he looked back at her, and as their gaze locked, for a moment neither spoke.

"I'm so glad we met," she finally said, "Who knows, I may even be inspired to write because of you."

"Thanks," was all he could think to say, and he smiled back at her, and cautiously reached across the table. He had no need to be cautious, she reached out too, and suddenly he was holding her hand.

"This," she said, "Is one of those moments I want to shut up like a ship in a bottle and keep forever."

"Me too," he admitted, "And I don't have any plans at all for tonight and tomorrow is my day off, and I was wondering if -"

 _"If you could stay tonight?"_ she asked warmly.

Behind his tinted lenses, John's eyes registered surprise.

"I was going to ask if I could see you again tomorrow - but yes, yes I would like that, I would love to stay."

He gave her hand a squeeze and she felt a rush of fondness warm through her heart, and suddenly she didn't want to let go of his hand. She was still holding it as she got up, and he got up too, and she led him through the suite to the bedroom door.

"I'm not in the habit of doing this," she told him as she turned out the lights and opened the door.

"Neither am I, unfortunately!" John said, and laughed softly, "I'm not treated like a sex symbol half as often as I would like, well actually never, how about you?"

She giggled.

"Until now I'd concluded success is _not_ the ticket to a wonderful sex life!"

" _It is now,"_ he whispered, and as they stood together in the open doorway, he slipped his arms about her waist and pulled her closer, and they shared a kiss for the first time, and as he held her and their kiss deepened, John Munch was taken by surprise at the flood of emotion that ran through him as he wondered if perhaps at last he had found what had been searching for all his life - perhaps this time, it really was true love...


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Lisa had led Munch over to the bed and then they had sat down together, kissed again, and she had broken off from the kiss to switch on a lamp that threw a soft glow about the room, the glow not quite reaching the four corners of the room, leaving the view from the window unobstructed of the night sky and the lights of New York City beyond it.

" _This is a moment to keep forever,"_ she said breathlessly as she took off her top and then reached for his tie and began to loosen it, _"You, me and the whole of New York sprawled out before us as the lights shine through the darkness. You make me hungry!"_

She leaned in and kissed him again, and John smiled as he took in the sight of her partially undressed, a red silken bra holding in her breasts. He imagined how they would fall free and wanted to make that happen right now – but she was already on him again, smothering his mouth with a kiss as she slipped off his tie, and then breaking off again to slide her hands over his shirt, as she did so he took off his jacket and let it fall to the floor, then as he kissed her again she was impatiently pulling at his buttons. It wasn't a day to worry about an expensive shirt losing a button, so he let her undress him, and as his shirt fell open and she ran her hands over his chest he caught his breath at the warmth and impatience of her touch.

"I want you, John!" she said urgently as she slid her hands up his chest and over his shoulders, pulling him closer as she sat on his lap and pressed against his erection, she felt his hardness even through the fabric of their clothing, and the pressure from her was enough to take his breath away.

"Slow down!" he said, and he ran his fingers though her hair and gently took hold of her, pulling her back a little, enough to make her blink and meet his gaze with eyes deep as dark pools, glazed over with need for him, and the sight of it made his erection ache painfully.

It had been a _long_ time since a woman had needed him _this_ much...

"Don't stop!" she complained.

"Are you using anything?"

She looked briefly confused, and then she shook her head.

"I wasn't expecting this to happen, I never expected this to ever happen for me!"

"Me too,"he admitted as she looked at him in dismay, "I didn't exactly come prepared... We'll just have to make the most of it."

Then he gently eased her down on to the bed, and she wasted no time as she unhooked her bra and took it off and then stripped off her jeans and underwear, then she lay back naked, with that look in her eyes that made his cock hurt, as he quickly stood up and took off the rest of his clothes and tried not to think about how bad he wanted to lose control.

As her gaze wandered over his naked body, Lisa drew in a breath and let it out with a sigh as she took in his lean, but toned body and the sight of his firm erection.

"I want to," he whispered as he joined her on the bed, "But not without protection. That's for tomorrow,okay?"

She nodded, her gaze locked on to his, and he kissed her again, then traced a path of kisses between her breasts, then he cupped them and kissed them and the sounds she made as she moaned with pleasure made him open his own legs wider and shift down the bed as he leaned over her, not wanting his cock to touch any part of her, not when he was so close to the edge.

As he kissed down her body she reached down and ran her fingers through his hair.

" _Yes please...Oh yes, do it, John..."_ she murmured, and then as he placed his hands on her thighs and gently parted them wider, as he felt the heat of her sex, she felt his breath against her and gave a gasp,and then another as he kissed her there.

Then he spread her wide and began to give her slow, gentle oral sex, his rhythm building as she thrust against him. As he slid two fingers inside her and began a gentle thrusting against her G spot, her breath was coming in short, sharp bursts as her wetness ran over his hand. He sucked gently, then began to tease her, and finally, to satisfy her as his mouth worked on her sex while his fingers moved inside her.

She came hard and loud and he felt her pulse and throb around his fingers, and he kept them there as she tangled her fingers in his hair and thrust hard against his face.

As he withdrew his fingers her wetness ran down his hand, she was on her back and her face was flushed, she was gasping for breath and the sight of her sex so swollen with desire and glistening wet in the lamplight, was intoxicating. Munch let his gaze roam over her body, and then as she sat up, he reached for her, and she got on her knees,looking into his eyes, still breathless as sweat ran down her face.

"I'm aching for this," he murmured, and she put him out of his misery, her hands on his hips as she took him in her mouth, welcoming his cock into warmth that gripped his erection, as her mouth slid up and down the shaft of it and she sucked firmly.

Munch clung to her, his hands on her shoulders as he trembled.

" _Oh that's good...thank you so much... yes, please give it to me...oh yeah, that's it...I'm there..."_

She sucked harder, and he trembled harder as he lost control, and he gave a soft cry of pleasure as orgasm washed over him.

And then they lie back together, her in his arms as she closed her eyes with a smile on her face, inhaling the masculine scent of his skin mixed with the scent of their lovemaking.

"Hold me all night," she whispered, and he pressed his face against her hair, wanting to be lost in her and never to come back from it.

"I will," he promised,"I feel like I want to hold on to you forever."

* * *

The sun was rising when Lisa woke, and she shifted closer to her lover, as they lay naked on a bed that had been wrecked by their passion the night before. The sheets were in a crumpled mess at the bottom of the bed, the sheet that covered the mattress was coming off and creased up, and her clothing and his were mixed up on the floor where it had been cast aside the night before.

And Lisa smiled as she turned over on her side and watched John Munch as he lay sleeping. And then she reached out and brushed a stray lock of hair out of his eyes, and he did not stir, so she carried on watching her lover, and then she was hit with an idea and she sat up, opened up a drawer next to the bed and grabbed a pad of paper and a pencil.

John woke up to a scratching sound.

He listened for a moment and then opened his eyes, blinked away sleep and saw Lisa next to him on the bed, still naked, now she was on her front and writing. The pencil was scratching as she etched letters quickly, and he watched her as she wrote one line after another.

"What are you doing?" he asked her, "It's six a.m.!"

"Shh!" she told him, looking up briefly, and then her head went back down, her eyes set once more on her work as she kept on writing.

John was sitting up in bed and feeling wide awake by the time she finally put down the pencil and tore off the page and set the pad and the pencil aside.

"You made this," she said to him as she sat beside him, turning on her side and looking into his eyes. He swore he saw love there - he needed to see love in her eyes, because last night had been so very good, more than that, even with their limitations, it had been amazing.

"What did I make, apart from satisfying love to you?" he asked.

She smiled as she showed him the paper in her hand.

"Lightening in a bottle, the invisible spark of magic that calls to the creativity in the artist - the stuff that makes the wheels turn. _I wrote this for you, John_."

As he looked into her eyes and saw such passion burning there, such passion blended with the deepest _something_ he hoped would be love, he reached for the paper she held in her hand, but she pulled it back.

"Let me read to you. Let me read the latest work of Lisa Linton, acclaimed poet, inspired by her lover Mr John Munch."

She had just called him her _lover,_ and had no clue how hard his heart had pounded as the word had fallen from her lips. It was starting to dawn on him that this really wasn't some one night affair – this was something more, and for her, too...

And then she started to read, and he rested against the pillow, closed his eyes and listened to the sound of her voice:

" _Love and words my gift to you - ink on paper telling true. Your smile and the light in your eyes, your spirit and passion my longing sighs, are forever intertwined. You, me, this paper, my heart, my mind."_

"That's...deep," he said, and she smiled and continued to read:

" _And so as written words survive, long after I have been alive they shall speak for me, and tell of love so true and beauty so inspired by you. And for those who love in years to come who match my passion and breathe the sum, my words on paper this gift shall be - and ever touch eternity."_

She had finished reading. She looked into his eyes and then handed him the poem.

"They say if a writer puts you into their work,be it fiction or poetry, its a way of living on forever. _I wrote this for you. Now you're immortal, John Munch._ "

"Are you saying you're in love with me?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied honestly.

He wanted to say it too, he wanted to just come out with it and tell her he was crazy about her – but he held it back.

"Get to know me and _then_ tell me you love me," he replied, he had laughed as he said it, but she didn't.

"I don't see what's not to love," she replied, and he leant closer and gave her a kiss.

"Get to know me," he said again.

As she reached up to run her fingers through his hair, he caught her hand and she caught her breath as he turned her wrist over, seeing something in the morning light he had not noticed the night before:

An old, jagged scar ran across her wrist.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Life," she replied, "It has a lot of sharp edges for me. I caught myself on one of those sharp edges and almost bled to death. It's history now."

As Munch studied the scar and then looked into her eyes, he wondered why he had not noticed it before - all of it, her fears, the way she had reacted to Greg's aggression...he could see it in her eyes now, it was plain as the daylight that showed up the scar on her wrist: She was fragile. She was a very damaged person.

"It was a long time ago," she added,and he nodded.

"I guess we all get damaged along the way," he said kindly, and then he wrapped his arms around her and held her tightly, not sure why he felt almost afraid to let go of her - maybe it was because he wanted to protect her or perhaps it was because it had been a long time since love had entered his heart or his thoughts and felt so right, but he welcomed it and did not want this feeling or this woman to slip away from his grasp. With those thoughts in mind, Munch went back to sleep in her arms as the sun rose higher.

* * *

It was almost ten a.m. when Munch finally got out of her bed, showered and reluctantly got dressed. He didn't want to leave, not yet - but felt he ought to, just for a while, because they barely knew each other and although they had become close quickly, he wanted to go home and make her wait, he wanted to make himself wait, too – and as much as he hated to admit it, the detective in him wanted to find out more about who he was dating.

He wasn't sure if she would understand had he told her that, but he couldn't help his instinct to know more, to find out all the background - and that sense of needing to know had grown stronger since he had seen the scar on her wrist. He had never searched her name online – all he had done was read her work, go to her website - because he liked the book. But that had been before he had met her and become close to her, and he felt sure if there was pain in her past, he wanted to know about it before she sat down and explained everything. He didn't want to be the one to accidentally trigger a flood of tears by saying something that would bring it all back to her. It seemed better this way, to quietly look into her background. It was also something he never had to tell her about, so he saw no harm in a detective doing what came naturally...

When he arrived home, Munch sat down at his computer and as he began to search her name, he smiled, thinking how he was glad he had not bothered to shower again since leaving - he wanted to carry the scent of her, he could detect it as a light trace, as if he carried the ghost of their lovemaking with him.

He planned later to go over and fetch her and bring her back to the apartment, so they could spend the night together away from the hotel, he wanted her here, warming his heart and his bed, even now he had been away from her for several hours, it was making his heart ache.

 _He wanted to be around her all the time._

 _It had to be love._

And then he found what he was looking for - an easy task for a detective used to using the web to dig out clues on cases – and he sat there reading an old thread from a discussion forum. It was public access, and dated more than three years before.:

There she was, her real name, her avatar was a picture of her, too – and she spoke frankly about her anxiety and depression and her horrible childhood and her years spent with an abusive ex boyfriend, then she talked about how she had once been homeless and alone and hit rock bottom.

" _That was when I cut my wrists,"_ she said, _"That was the second time I tried it. I was in a deep in this hole and I couldn't climb out. I felt like the more I tried to climb the earth would come away and bury me. I was burying myself. I was in my own grave."_

Munch drew in a breath and let it out slowly.

"You need to get rid of this, Lisa," he murmured, as he guessed she obviously didn't know that once something was posted online, it was there forever – she needed to delete it because it was public access and clearly the website wasn't in the practise of deleting old threads...

And still the scent of her clung to him as if she was right next to him.

He read the words she had written on the forum for a second time, and then he wished she really was beside him, so he could take her in his arms and hold her again. But he wouldn't have to wait long. Munch glanced at the clock, and it gave him great comfort to know that he would be picking her up from the hotel in three hour's time...

* * *

When she heard the knock on the door, Lisa had just changed into a floral dress in shades of lilac and blue, the top half clung to her body as the hem of the skirt floated about her legs just above the knee, she took a few careful steps in her shoes to be sure the low but narrow heels were not a problem, and then she put on some lipstick and turned from the mirror just as the door to the suite opened. And she looked in surprise at Greg, who seemed worked up about something.

"I've been making some plans," he told her, "We leave the hotel tonight - I've found us a house in the suburbs, its quite a drive from here but we can stay for a few months while you complete your book promotions and I tie up my business deals."

"That's great!" she said, and she smiled, but he did not. In fact Greg seemed unusually nervous – and that was very strange to Lisa, because until now it had been her who was the nervous wreck, not Greg, always so full of aggression and too much confidence...

"Is something wrong?" she asked, and he shook his head.

"Just the pressure of business," he replied, "No need to worry about it."

"Good," she said to him, "Because I don't need worries in my life. That detective I met last night? I'm seeing him again. I really like him, Greg."

And Greg looked at her and his expression was hard to read.

"You're seeing the police detective?"

She nodded and smiled.

"That's right."  
"Be packed and ready to leave by six," he told her, "I've already got the house keys."

"I'll tell John I'll be a bit late tonight," she replied, and it was then he paused in the doorway and asked a question:

"What sort of detective is your new boyfriend, Lisa? I mean, what does he investigate? Burglary, street crimes?"

She thought back to their many hours of discussion in bed before Munch had left.

"He used to work in Homicide, now he works for the Special Victims Unit. He likes to take on the toughest cases."

"Special Victims?" he asked, "What does that mean?"

"Sex crimes," she replied.

He swiftly changed the subject.

"Oh I see...You'd better get packing, remember we leave at six, be ready."

"Okay," she said, and he left her room and then she turned to the wardrobe and opened up the doors and began to take everything out, placing her clothing on the bed with her open suitcase beside it.

* * *

As Greg walked away from Lisa's room, his expression darkened along with his thoughts as he considered the truth behind his business dealings:

 _Lisa' new boyfriend investigated sex crimes?_

 _That was very bad news for him._

 _Because that meant he would soon have to be eliminated from her life - permanently..._


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

" _So you have the address? Yes, I gave it to you just now...twice... I wanted to be sure you had it – I didn't know about the house, I knew he was looking to rent somewhere but not yet...I didn't know...I'm there now...but promise me, promise me you will still come over tonight. I'm...I'm not sure about this place... "_

Lisa broke off from speaking, cast a glance about the shabby old kitchen, and then as something fell to the floor with a thump in the hallway and Greg cursed, she flinched.

" _I...I just don't like this place," she added, "It's really old...looks like it hasn't been decorated in years...why would he get a dump like this? I liked the hotel...and I want to see you. Okay...call me when you get this message. Bye."_

She stopped winding the spiral phone cord around her finger and put the old fashioned receiver back down, ending the call, and then she turned from the phone as Greg walked into the kitchen.

"You called him?"

She nodded.

"I left a message, I'm hoping to see him later on."

Greg had left their belongings in the hallway, and he glanced back at the cases, and then to Lisa.

"You know it's all down to me,don't you?"

"What is?"

"Your success."

"I know that."

"And if you'd rather be off with your boyfriend and you have no more time to write, it's going to end our arrangement."

She stared at him.

"You have no right to dictate my private life!"

He stepped closer to her, and suddenly he was too close, her back was against the wall and the feel of his breath on her face was enough to bring back memories of the days when she had lived in fear of her former partner. She wasn't that person any more, but oh, how Greg had the power to bring back those moments, in moments like _this_ one..

"I don't think he loves you, Lisa," he said as he looked hard at her, "I don't think he wants to see you again. If he did, his phone would have been switched on. Just tell me one thing – have I _ever_ missed a call from you?"

She thought back and wanted to say _yes_ , but she knew the answer was _no_.

"I understand you," he added, and then he smiled as amusement danced in his eyes, "I can't see your police detective wanting to be with you when he knows just how crazy you are. Jumpy, pill popping bitch – not much of catch, are you!"

Those words stung and he saw anger in her eyes, but he just kept on smiling as he finally stepped back, and for Lisa, it was a relief to have him out of her personal space once more, making breathing that little bit easier.

"I would be happier if you broke it off with him," he added, "I don't want to see you get hurt. You're a big investment for me – a very talented writer. And as long as I need your business association to make money, I would prefer to keep you close to me. I'm just trying to protect you."

Then his gaze fell on her open bag that she had left on the table. He reached inside and took out a pill bottle and placed it on the table.

"Don't forget to take them - even _I_ can't handle you when you get worked up. And by the way -" he paused to rifle down her purse and draw out some cash, "I'm just borrowing this – need to pay the taxi for two trips from the hotel. I'll use the rest to hire myself a car, I have another business meeting tonight."

She nodded, and then as he left the room, she leant heavily against the wall as she she briefly closed her eyes, then she looked to the phone, wished it would ring and Munch would be on the other end of it, and then after the silence of being alone in the new place got too much for her, she grabbed a glass from a dusty old cupboard, washed it out and filled it with water, then sat down at the table, snapped open the bottle and took two pills. Then Lisa breathed a deep sigh, willing the meds to work, so her could pull herself together, so her hands would stop shaking, and most of all, so that she would no longer notice how much Greg scared her sometimes...

* * *

Munch was at home, not needing more sleep but certainly needing rest before Lisa pounced on him again. He had thought for a while about all he had learned earlier when researching her background, and part of him wanted to embrace her while the other part wanted to go to work tomorrow and use the police computer to see what else he could uncover. It wasn't the first time he had looked into the background of someone he was dating, and if Cragen found out he knew there would be trouble - but he was sure five minutes searching wouldn't be picked up on by anyone, because the unit searched hundreds of names every single day...

As he got up off the couch his back felt stiff and he smiled as he recalled why it was stiff, as wonderful memories of the night before flooded his recollections, and then he took his phone from the table and switched it on, noticing he had a new message.

He sat back on the couch, still taking care of his aching back as he listened to Lisa's message.

 _She sounded tense, and that worried him_.

He called the number back, and after ringing for a while, the call was picked up.

"John, is that you?"

She still sounded worried.

"Yeah, it's me, who else would be calling you on your brand new number, what's wrong, honey?"

"I...I'm not really sure...I don't like this house, John. It's old and its dark and I don't want to be here."

"Want me to come over?"

"Yes," she said, "Please do. Greg went out ages ago, he said he won't be back until late. Come over."

Now he was starting to worry.

"Is he bullying you again?"

"No, he was just...I didn't know, he wasn't making much sense. He rarely does."

"I got the _very_ long message that you left," he said fondly, "I know where you are - I'll be over soon."

Then he ended the call.

He was still thinking about Lisa and how it seemed that she was afraid of Greg, and then he glanced at the time, decided perhaps it ought to be Greg he investigated instead, and then picked up his phone again and called the squad room, adding Fin's extension number to the call.

Fin picked up right away.

"It's Munch," he said, "I need a favour."

"Sure, what is it?" Fin asked.

"I need you to run a check on someone for me."

"What's the name?"

"Greg Volkov. This isn't connected to a case, but I happen to think the guy might be threatening my new girlfriend."

There was a pause on the end of the line and then Fin spoke in a low voice.

"Munch, I can't do that. You wanna check him out, do it tomorrow when you're back at work, I'm not putting my ass on the line over your personal stuff!"

"Oh that's just great, thanks a _lot,_ partner."

"You said _might_ be, you don't even know for sure."

Munch gave a sigh.

"Okay, I'll take my chances tomorrow, then."

"By the way, congratulations on the new girlfriend."

"See you tomorrow," he replied.

Then he hung up the call and set the phone down on the table, still troubled by the frightened tone in Lisa's voice. He gave it some more thought and decided to leave early to make the journey across town to meet her, because he hoped she would be able to answer his questions - although he doubted she knew much about Greg at all, because they hardly seemed like the best of friends...

* * *

When Munch found the address, he parked the car outside and then got out, pausing to look up and down the deserted street. This had once been a nice neighbourhood, but many of the houses were run down,and some were empty and falling apart. He could understand why Lisa wouldn't want to stay in a big old house where the daylight was partly blocked out by over grown trees - one look at the place reminded him of something out of a horror movie.

"I wonder why Greg rented a dump like this?" he said aloud as he pushed open the gate and it groaned on rusted hinges.

Then as he noticed the front door was ajar, he hurried up the path and briefly paused, looking through the gap, seeing no one, and then he went inside.

"Lisa?" he called out, and as she replied,her voice sounded far away.

"I'm here, John..."

He looked up the stairway, where she stood, then swayed, as she placed a hand on a wall covered with peeling paper as she looked down at him. In that moment he knew he wouldn't be asking her much at all about Greg, because she was heavily drugged.

"Stay where you are!" he said, and hurried up the stairs to join her before she tried to walk down and fell the whole flight.

"Get back from the stairs!"

As he took hold of her and steered her away from the edge, she looked at him in confusion.

"Let go of me...what's wrong with you?"

As she looked up at him her eyes were half drowned in sedatives and she blinked lazily.

"Come and lie down with me..."she said.

She led him to a bedroom, where her cases were still packed up and left by an old wooden wardrobe. The mirror the dresser was dusty, but the bed sheets looked fresh.

"I want to sleep," she said to him, "And I want you to sleep beside me."

He caught sight of the pills next to the bed and as she sat down heavily, he picked up the bottle, checked the label and put them back again.

"Do you always go so heavy on your meds?"

"Only when I feel like this."

"Like what?"

"Like I can't calm down, like the stress and the panic are eating me alive. It's his fault!"

Munch sat beside her and she leaned against him, her head on his shoulder as he put his arm around her.

"Is he hurting you?" he asked.

"No, but he scares me," she whispered, and then she leaned heavier against him.

"How does he scare you?"

She shifted back, laid on the bed and gave a sigh as her head hit the pillow, then she looked up at him and gave her reply.

"He pushes me around. He knows how to make me freeze up, he treats me like shit but he made me who I am today. I can't walk away until the book promotion is over."

"Yes you can," he promised her, "You can easily walk away. You can come and stay with me."

She met his gaze and finally, sadness was gone from her eyes as she felt a spark of hope.

"I'll tell him tomorrow," she said, "I need to tell him before I leave."

"Do you think he might get violent?"

She frowned as she shook her head.

"No, he's never done that. He's not _that_ bad..."

Her eyes were closing and then opening slowly as she fought the effects of the sedatives.

"Are you sure you'll be safe here tonight?" he asked.

"Of course I will."

"I want you to get some sleep," he told her, "You need to rest. I'll stop by tomorrow after work and we can leave together, okay?"

She looked up at him and smiled and as she reached for him, he almost got lost in the kiss they shared, but then he drew back, whispering that she needed to rest, and as soon as she closed her eyes, she slid into a deep sleep.

Munch sat beside her watching her sleep for a short while, and then he kissed her cheek, but she did not stir, so he got up and left the room and closed the door quietly behind him. Then he tried the other doors on the upper floor, found a bathroom and a spare room - and the door to the master bedroom was firmly locked. Then he went back down stairs, took a quick look around and found nothing out of the ordinary, and left by the front door, closing it carefully behind him, and went back to his car.

As Munch started up the engine, he glanced up at the bedroom window and thought of how he hated to leave Lisa alone in that place, and later on, she would not be alone when Greg returned, and _that_ was a thought he hated even more. But there was nothing he could do until tomorrow when she was wide awake and ready to leave, because no crime had been committed – although he felt sure it _ought_ to be a crime to treat a girl like Lisa the way Greg treated her...

* * *

 _Lisa did not sleep well that night._

 _She thought she heard Greg's voice drifting up the stairway, but he was speaking in his native Russian and sounded agitated. Then she turned over and saw trees looking ghostly by moonlight, shivered and pulled the covers up to her shoulders, closed her eyes and was jolted awake again by thumps sounding on the stairs, then a muffled scream and suddenly there was a sharp creak as the bedroom door slowly opened, groaning on old, rusted hinges._

 _She thought she saw someone standing there, a man in shadow, and gave a gasp, turned over sharply and the movement made her slide back into darkness..._

* * *

When Lisa awoke it was morning - and her first thought was how lousy she felt after doubling her dose of daily meds because the sudden house move and Greg's aggression had thrown her into panic. Then she remembered Munch had stopped by and had said she could go and stay with him.

She breathed a relieved sigh and sat up, ran her fingers through her hair and then turned her head and gave a gasp to see someone standing in the doorway – but it was just Greg.

He smiled as he came into the room.

"I hope I didn't wake you last night,I was tying up some loose ends, securing a business deal. When I came back I checked on you but you were sound asleep. Did the meds help?"

"Too much," she replied, and laid back down and gave a weary sigh.

He placed a cup of coffee next to the bed.

"This should help to wake you up," he added, "And when you get up, I have a surprise for you - I bought you something,I left it on the dresser."

"I really don't want gifts."

"You liked the bracelet I got you back in London."

"I hardly ever wear it."

" _I'm sorry I've been a bastard."_

She looked up at him, and then she blinked away the last trace of sleep and stared at the thin scratch mark that ran down his face.

"What happened?"

He reached up and touched his cheek, and then laughed it off.

"I came in last night and forgot how low the branches hang by the porch. Almost took my eye out!"

Then he indicated to a red leather case on the dresser.

"It's a make up case, I got it for you today. But I can't find the key, so I'll have to get another when I go into town. Just look after it for me until I can get you the key, okay?"

She frowned as she sat up, looking from the case to Greg.

"Okay...but Greg, you need to understand, me and John are serious. I know it's happened fast but we want to see more of each other. He wants me to go and stay with him for a few days...maybe more than a few days. I may not be coming back."

All warmth vanished from his eyes as he looked hard at her.

"We have several more book promotions to fulfill, Lisa!"

"And you have just sorted out some business deals here in New York that are _nothing_ to do with me! You don't need me now, Greg!"

She got out of bed, smoothed the creases out of her clothing and looked about, went over to an unpacked case and opened it and took out a change of clothes.

"You can't do this!" Greg said to her, "You've known this man for five minutes -"

"Why are you _so_ desperate for me to stay?"

Greg just stared at her for a moment, as if he had no answer to her question.

"I just don't want you to be with that detective."

"Why not?"

He was giving her that hard stare again, but now she refused to be intimidated.

" _WHY?"_ she yelled angrily.

"Because..." he paused, and then as he met her gaze, warmth was there again, but she could see through it, this wasn't real, this was Greg trying to charm her..what ever he was about to say, she knew there would be no truth to it.

" _Because I love you."_

She stared at him in disbelief, and it was only because she knew the extent of his temper that she didn't laugh.

"You don't love me!"

"I...I just don't want you to leave so soon. Please, stay until the end of the week? I don't want us to part on bad terms. There's no need to hurry, is there?"

Lisa looked at him and shook her head, feeling sure there was a reason why she felt uneasy, but she just couldn't figure out what it was...

"Okay," she said reluctantly, "I'll wait until Friday. Then I'm gone, because I want to leave. I want to move in with John. He said I could when he was here last night."

"Last night?"

"I fell asleep, he was gone when I woke up."

"At least if you leave at the end of the week, we can part as friends," he said to her, "I wouldn't want us to part on bad terms, not after all we've achieved together."

"I suppose you're right," she said quietly.

* * *

As Greg left the room, anger smoldered in his eyes as soon as he turned his back on her. As he walked away, he thought of the cop who had been in this house, and would most likely keep on coming back...

And then he thought on all the things Lisa knew nothing about:

 _There had been blood on his hands last night, and it would prove priceless when the money started rolling in now the man who had once sold him out was dead. He knew the cops would already have their hands full with the murder and what he had done after it whilst high on his power trip – but they wouldn't trace it back to him and so far, so good, just like back in the UK – he had a liking for excessive violence on all levels and there were people out there who would pay good money to see recordings of it, too._

 _And the very last thing he needed now was a cop on the scene - especially a cop who specialised in sex crimes. Greg couldn't let that happen, not when he was setting himself up to make money from his sick thrills._

 _And if Lisa thought she had a future with a cop who worked in sex crimes she was wrong, because his mind was made up now, he was going to kill John Munch, and very soon..._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

In the short time Munch had been away, all hopes Olivia Benson had secretly kept that she and El might get some time off at the same time were dashed by events that had seen them both called out in the early morning, and Eliot had left his wife sleeping in bed, to go and join Olivia as the sun rose – and this being purely work, he had stayed at the squad room taking in the details of the case that had just come in, while Liv went to the hospital to speak to a woman who was now resting as well as she could, bruised and battered in a hospital bed after being sexually assaulted.

"What can you tell me about last night?" she asked.

The woman's eyes filled with tears and Liv was sure even crying must have hurt her, because she was so bruised from the beating she had received.

"I'd finished work," she said, "and I was on my way home. It was a short walk and I've done it so many times...I never thought..."

"Take your time," Liv said gently.

The woman gathered her thoughts and met her gaze once more.

"He came out behind me. I didn't see his face. He hit me. I blacked out. When I came around I was on the floor, my skirt was up and he was trying to rape me. He said I had to keep still, I tried to see his face but the lights were bright and blinding me."

She gave a sob.

"He said there was a camera."

"He was filming it?"

She nodded.

"He put his hand on my throat and started to squeeze. That was when I reached out, I grabbed something, it felt like the leg of a tripod...I pulled on it and the camera fell and he panicked, he went crazy, like the camera meant everything to him. As he reached for it I went for his eyes, I scratched his face and we struggled. I got away and ran up the stairs and he grabbed me again and I screamed. I got as far as the door, I remember that – I opened it, he hit me again and again and I was dizzy... I remember running. _It was dark and all I could do was run_."

She gave another sob, put her hand to her bruised face and shook her head.

"I don't know anything else. I couldn't even find the house again if I tried...I was so dizzy...and I wanted to live, so I ran. That's all I remember."

Liv looked at her thoughtfully.

"You can't tell me anything else about him?"

"He had an accent," she replied, "I don't know what kind...Russian, maybe? I'm not sure."

"If you remember anything else," Liv told her as she handed her a card, "Give me a call. I'll be in touch, okay?"

The woman nodded,and then Liv left the room, leaving the victim to rest, and then she headed for the door, feeling weary as she wondered how many more victims this guy would claim before they caught him - so far, they had very little clues to follow at all...

* * *

When Munch arrived at work, he sat down at his desk as usual and Fin shot him a knowing look.

"Five minutes late this morning, do we blame the new girlfriend?"

Munch smiled.

"I'm seeing her later. I think I'm in love."

Fin stared at him.

"You are?"

And Munch smiled again.

"Yes, I really am," he replied, "And it's going very well, I'm actually feeling optimistic about this relationship."

"What about the creep who's been -"

"Not now," Munch said quickly as Cragen left his office and walked over.

"Munch, can I have word?" he asked.

Then Alex Cabot walked in, and as she strode over to join them, there was a look about her eyes that said she had her sights set firmly on nailing a case.

"I just heard about the rape called in last night – I've just come off the phone to Olivia, she interviewed the victim and said the guy was filming the whole thing, it all sounds like the hallmarks of Dimitry from the way he grabbed her to the way he held her down. I would love to take a shot at that piece of filth if I had the chance and put him back in jail where he belongs."

"The attacker left DNA behind - the victim scratched his face," Cragen replied, "But we have no evidence it was Dimitry. There's also the fact that he was found shot dead last night – we don't know what he was doing in New York, but it looks like a possible gangland killing, single shot to the back of the head. And it's not our case, it's Homicide's. And I'm willing to bet the DNA won't bring his name up, the attack happened across town."

Then Cragen glanced to Munch.

"So the guy who threatened to kill you when he got out, will never get the chance."

"Is that what you wanted to talk to me about?" Munch asked.

Cragen nodded.

"And it looks like we have to hope the DNA brings up a match to someone else."

Alex gave a sigh.

"I want to know as soon as there is a breakthrough," she said, "Because this guy sounds like a copy cat."

"I agree with that," Cragen replied, and then Alex walked out of the squad room. On her way out she passed Liv, she said Hi to her, and as she walked over to join the others, Eliot looked at her and noticed how tired she seemed.

"The victim went through hell but she can't give us much at all," she said, "Only that the guy had an accent. She thinks it might be Russian. Have we heard back yet on the DNA?"

Fin shook his head.

"And the only suspect we thought we had is dead, so we have to hope that DNA turns up something."

"I want a result fast on this one," Cragen told them all, "Because I don't think it will be long before he strikes again. Let's hope we can stop him before he builds himself a library of his rapes."

Then he went back to his office, and Liv took off her coat and sat down and looked across the desk at Eliot.

"It ever ends, does it," she remarked sadly, and he looked into her eyes.

"You look like you could use a change of scene - lunch, on me?"

That brought a smile to her face.

"Sure." she replied.

"Guess who's in love?" said Fin, and Liv and El both sat back a little in their seats, stiffening as a brief look of guilt shaded El's eyes and panic reflected in Liv's. Munch couldn't help but smile at their reaction to such an innocent remark.

"Yes, I'm dating again and she's a famous poet," he told them, " No questions, please, let's get on with some work!" and as he switched on his computer screen, he heard Fin chuckle.

* * *

The rest of the day was spent working on the case – and with no witnesses apart from the victim and no matches coming up on the DNA, the case was growing frustratingly and rapidly cold.

Then as Fin said goodnight and left the squad room, and Liv went over to an empty desk and Eliot joined her because Cragen had already gone home, Munch glanced over, saw the couple's hands briefly touch, and then Liv shifted closer to him and their conversation became close and softly spoken. Munch glanced at the time and was about to get up and put on his coat, when someone walked into the squad room.

"So this is where you work!" she said brightly, and over the other side of the room, Liv and El leaned away from each other, and casually glanced around.

Munch smiled brightly and got up and held his arms out to her, and Lisa walked into his embrace and he hugged her and then let go again.

"Yes, this is where I work – and you shouldn't be here!" he said, "But that doesn't matter now - my boss has gone home anyway...Liv, El, this is Lisa."

They smiled and said Hi and she greeted them, and then Munch turned back to her, his gaze softening as he looked into her eyes.

"I was planning to go straight over to your place - looks like we can skip that now and go straight back to mine instead."

"Good idea." she told him, and as he put on his coat and hat, he glanced at her and smiled, and then he said goodnight to Liv and El, put his arm around Lisa's waist, and they left the squad room together.

* * *

"They seem like nice people," Lisa remarked as she sat in the car beside him and Munch started up the engine and drove away towards the highway.

"Olivia and Eliot? Yes, they are," he replied, "They have worked together a long time, they're very close."

"I saw the way they looked at each other," she replied,"Are they in love?"

Munch kept his eyes on the road.

"El is married but not happily and Liv is single because El is married - and if El didn't have his wife, Liv would be Mrs Stabler. But don't say a word about it because there are rules in this job – if anyone found out at work, they could lose their jobs for getting too close."

He glanced at Lisa.

"Seriously, you have to keep quiet about that."

She nodded.

"Of course."

And her gaze lingered on his as he saw longing in her eyes.

" _I've missed you."_

He broke off from her gaze, looking back to the road ahead before their need for each other caused an accident.

"I've missed you too and it's not far to my place - if I can drive with an erection I'm sure you can hold on a little bit longer too," he said, and briefly touched her leg as he smiled, but kept his attention on the road.

"I'll try," she replied, and the warmth in her voice made him ache for her even more.

* * *

As soon as they reached home, Munch wasted no time taking her up to his apartment. Once they were inside and the door was closed, he pulled her into his arms and kissed her, and then pulled away before he lost control and they ended up making love on the carpet in the hallway.

He took off his coat and hat and then his jacket, and let that fall to the floor as he grabbed her by the hand and led her towards his bedroom.

"I've got protection this time," he said, and already he was slightly breathless as he stepped into the room and took off his tie and began to unbutton his shirt. She reached for him, but he didn't reach for her, instead he sat down on the bed as he stripped off his shirt.

"Not yet. Come and sit down, I need to tell you something."

She had already taken off her jacket and shoes, but still wore her jeans and her figure hugging top. She sat beside him and he saw desire in eyes, and it made him ache, but he wanted her to know him properly and now seemed like the best time...

He saw a flicker of confusion in her eyes as he took hold of her hands and looked at her intently.

"I know how you feel about me, and I feel the same for you, I love you, Lisa - but I'm keeping something back from you and I need to stop doing that because I want you to know everything about me."

Seeing such deep love and understanding her eyes was making this so much easier, and as she replied, he knew this would be easier than he had imagined.

"You can tell me anything," she promised, "Nothing will put me off you or change my mind, my heart chose you."

He paused to gather his thoughts, and then he held her hands a little tighter and told her what he had been holding back:

"I have to be careful in my line of work - I investigate sex crimes, I'm supposed to be a regular, non kinky guy. Even the smallest deviation from that would be seen as a reason to kick me off the squad, Lisa."

She looked at him in surprise.

"You sex life is nothing to do with your work!"

"But my work wouldn't see it that way if this got out - I have to be careful about sharing this... it's nothing heavy, but I can't change it and I wouldn't want to. I like to be gently dominated in bed. I like to be seduced, taken over, I like the woman to take the lead... we don't have to do that, but I would enjoy it immensely if we did."

She reached out and gently touched his cheek, and then she ran her fingers through his hair.

" _Teach me,"_ she said softly, _"Show me what you need."_

What happened that evening, after he shared his secret, was something that Munch felt sure he would never, ever forget. And it only confirmed to him just how right it felt to be with Lisa.

After embracing and kissing as they spoke softly about what he wanted, after her hands had slid over his body and she had undressed him and he had pulled down the zip on her dress and it had fallen to the floor, they were naked together in his bed, he was on his back and she was on top of him,holding his wrists down in a gentle grip as he closed his eyes and her kisses teased him and made him sigh with pleasure as she began to make love to him.

" _Take me over, Lisa,"_ he whispered, and then he gave a soft moan of pleasure as she held him down and took the length of his hardness deep inside her.

As they moved together she released her grip on him and their hands linked, her gaze locked on his and as he whispered that he loved her she silenced him with a kiss as his body began to tremble.

"Yes, do it," she said breathlessly, "Come for me, show me you love me..."

His breathing grew faster as his face flushed and he gripped her hands tightly.

"I love you Lisa!" he gasped, and then he came hard, and as she took him deeply inside her and pressed against him, she reached her own peak and as she cried out he held her tightly.

She was still coming down from the orgasm as he kissed her back to her senses.

"I meant that," he promised as he swept her dampened hair off her face and looked into her eyes, "I _do_ love you, Lisa. _And I want you to be Mrs Munch_."

As she lay beside him and looked into his eyes, he smiled as he saw the look on her face, and knew in a heartbeat what her answer would be.

"Yes, I'll marry you, John," she said, and then she wrapped her arms around him and they kissed deeply and tenderly, and as he broke off from that kiss, he blinked to clear eyes misted up with joy.

"I'll make you happy," he promised her, "I'll do what ever it takes -"

"No," she said to him softly, "Just love me. You don't have to work hard for anything, you already have my heart."

"I think I've waited all my life for someone to say that to me," he told her, "To say I don't have to give and keep giving while they do all the taking. I've never felt this loved before."

"Neither have I," she replied as love shone in her eyes and she moved closer in his embrace, "I want to love you forever. For the rest of my days."

And as he held her and they rested together, he closed his eyes and kept her close, and as she fell asleep in his arms, Munch smiled as he lay warm beside her, knowing that for the first time in his life, he had found someone who he really did believe it could work out with. At last, it really did feel as if he had found the elusive true love he had been searching so long to find, and that was his last thought as he drifted off to sleep in the embrace of the woman he loved, who loved him back the way he needed to be loved, and for Munch, that was all he needed, because nothing had ever felt so right before.

 _And as they slept and darkness crept into the room as night fell, a single light lit up softly as Lisa's cell phone buzzed quietly, as on the other end of the line, Greg tried and failed, over and over, to reach Lisa, and the more he failed, the more his rage began to build..._


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Everything makes sense when I'm with you," Lisa said quietly.

Munch ran his hand over her hair and decided to stay in bed with her just a short while longer before he got up and got ready for work.

"Do you really have to wait until tomorrow to move out of that place?" he asked her.

She gave a sigh.

"I'm looking forward to getting him out of my life - but at the same time,I remember everything he's done for me. He can be a bastard, but he was the bastard who made me successful."

"Does he have many successful writers on his books?" Munch wondered.

"No," Lisa replied, "He said I was the only one with real promise, real ability."

"And how long has he been an agent to writers?"

She raised her head from his shoulder and looked at him.

"I don't know, a couple of years...he's a businessman, he's involved in all kinds of deals."

"Like what?"

She frowned.

"Sounds like you're questioning me."

"That's because I've been a detective too many years than I care to count. I'm just asking."

"I don't know much about it - but I do know he sometimes did property development back in London. I don't know what he's doing here in New York, he doesn't talk about it. I know about my book promotion, but that's about all I really know."

Munch turned on his side and looked into her eyes.

"I know you think I'm worrying too much, but I'd rather be there when you say goodbye to him. I've seen his temper. I want to make sure you're okay."

She smiled.

"Fine," she replied, "You can come over to the house and pick me up when I'm ready to leave. But I'm sure he's not going be spiteful about it, he's got his own life to be getting on with."

"I want you to leave tonight," he added.

She thought about it for a moment and then nodded.

"Okay, I'll leave tonight," she promised him.

Munch kissed her, and then the alarm sounded again, he gave a sigh and reluctantly left the warmth of her arms to prepare for another day trying to find a lead on a case that was growing cold.

* * *

Several hours later, with Cragen having the whole squad out on the streets looking for leads, it seemed there was nothing to turn up.

Olivia Benson got back into the car beside Eliot Stabler and gave a sigh.

"Nothing," she said, "No witnesses, no names, nothing on the DNA... I think this one is going to be filed away and left and I don't want that to happen."

"But we can't do anything without evidence,"El reminded her.

"I know, but it doesn't make it fair on the victim."

"You're right," he agreed, and then as they sat together in the parked car he fell silent for a few moments, lost in his own thoughts, and then he turned his head and met Liv's gaze.

"You will never how I feel when I wake up in the morning, turn my head and see Kathy beside me instead of you."

"Oh El," she said wearily, "Don't start that again...we've had this talk a thousand times... there are so many things we can't change."

"But it doesn't stop me wishing."

As he looked into her eyes, her own gaze softened.

"Me too, but then I remember you have a wife and a family who would be affected by a break up and I don't want to the one to hurt them - _or_ you. Don't tell me you wouldn't be affected by the fall out from it."

"I thought the only fall out from us becoming official would be one of us having to transfer out of the department."

Annoyance flashed in her eyes.

"It's not about work. It's about everyone else involved in our mess," she replied, "And you've said it so many times, you can't walk away from your responsibilities."

"And if I could?"

"I don't think about that."

El looked at her intently.

"Why not?"

Sadness shaded Liv's gaze.

"Because I won't dream about the things I can't have. I live in the real world."

"So do I," El replied, "But I _do_ dream, I guess that's what my problem is."

Then he started up the car and they drove away.

* * *

Back at the squad room, Munch was at his desk when he made a call to the house where Lisa was staying. The phone rang and rang with no answer, and then he tried her cell phone.

"Hello," said Greg, and Munch felt a flicker of alarm.

"Hi, it's John Munch...is Lisa there?"

"She borrowed the car to go into town, she said she needed to pick up a few last minute items before she leaves this evening."

"What time is she back?"

"Around four. She said to me she wanted to leave early, I don't suppose you could come over around four thirty, could you?"

"I thought you didn't want her to go?"

He laughed.

"I'll be sorry to see her go, we've been friends for a long time - but I'm glad she's happy, Detective Munch."

"I'll be there at four thirty," he replied, and then he ended the call and glanced over at Fin.

"I'm leaving early today," he said, "I'm picking Lisa up. I'll be glad when she's away from that creep."

"I'll cover for you if Cragen asks questions," Fin replied.

"Thanks," Munch said to him, and then he glanced at the clock and wished the time would hurry up and speed by, because he had another hour before he could go over to the house and fetch Lisa...

* * *

As she opened the bedroom door, after having got dressed again, her hair was still damp from the shower.

"I thought I heard the phone ring," Lisa said to Greg as he hurried up the stairs.

He reached the top and shook his head.

"No, there's been no phone calls here."

And then he looked at her apologetically.

"I know this is a big favour to ask, but before you leave tonight, I was wondering if you could do one last thing for me?"And he smiled, reminding her of how easy going he had been in the early days of their association.

"What do you want?" she asked him.

"Could you get some shopping for me? There's a grocery store in town and it's not far from here - but I need the car. I promised a friend I'd meet with them regarding a property deal. You'll have to walk. Is that okay? This neighbourhood is quiet, you'll be safe enough."

Lisa recalled some stores she had seen when they had passed by them on the day they had moved in.

"It's going to take me an hour!" she exclaimed, and he smiled.

"Thanks, Lisa. I really appreciate this. I'll be back in time to say goodbye, what time is Detective Munch picking you up?"

"Around six," she replied.

"I'll definitely be back by then," he promised her, and then he thrust his hand into his pocket and gave her a wad of folded notes.

"It's not quite all of what I owe you, but I will pay you the rest back soon," he promised her as she looked at him in surprise and took the money, "I don't need much to get by for a few days – just get the groceries and come back. Get a cab back if you need to. I want to be sure you're ready to leave when your boyfriend shows up."

She looked from the money to Greg and smiled.

"I'm glad we're parting on good terms," she told him.

"Me too," he replied, and then as she slipped on a light jacket and picked up her purse and then went down the staircase, he stood at the window, watching as she left the house and began to walk away up the street.

Then Greg checked his watch and smiled:

By the time she reached the store, John Munch would be on his way over, and she wouldn't be waiting for him - in fact, she would never know he had ever called at the house...

 _Lisa would never see him again._

 _She would simply assume her lover had changed his mind..._

* * *

Munch had thanked Fin for covering for him, and then left work and then drove straight over to the house where Lisa was staying with Greg. When he arrived he noticed a car was parked outside, but there was no reply when he knocked on the front door. Munch stepped back and looked up at the house, but saw no movement at the windows. He went back to the front door, and then took his phone from his coat pocket and called her cell phone number.

He heard the ring cut through the air, and walked around the side of the house, following the sound to an open kitchen window. From where he stood he saw her phone lit up and still ringing, and then he called her name, but got no reply.

Munch stood there for a moment and then cut off the call, pausing to listen, but for _what_ , he was not sure:

The wind rustled the leaves of the trees, off in the distance he heard cars passing by, then he looked around, saw the house across the street was empty, the windows boarded up. Further down the road, another house looked lived in, but no car was in the driveway.

He was still listening, perhaps to his instinct as a cop, and he wondered if that was really necessary – there was a car parked out the front, someone had to be home, and Lisa would not have gone out, because she was waiting for him...

 _He had spoken to Greg on the phone._

 _Why would this be a trap?_

 _And why was he even reaching down to briefly touch his holstered gun, as if to reassure himself that he was ready for anything?_

 _It wasn't as if Lisa and Greg had ever been more than friends._

 _Perhaps Greg was a bully - but that had been about business, it wasn't personal..._

 _Maybe he was just imagining something was wrong._

 _Perhaps too many years as a cop had made him think everyone around him was guilty of something._

That was a _lot_ of paranoia.

He shoved those thoughts aside and knocked on the back door and called her name again.

Then the door opened.

Greg was standing there, and he smiled.

"Detective Munch," he said warmly, "Please come in, Lisa won't be long - she's upstairs taking a bath. She spent so long packing and organising everything for the move - I expect you know what she's like for getting stressed over moving around - everything has to be packed just right, she can be a little obsessive about details sometimes."

And he led him into the kitchen.

Munch glanced around, still getting that instinct that he usually listened to, yet seeing no reason to have a hunch that something was wrong here.

"She won't be long," Greg said again, and then he snapped his fingers as if remembering something suddenly.

"Oh, before you both leave – I wondered if you could help me with something. I need to get the basement door open and its jammed. I was wondering if you might be able to -"

"Shoot out the lock?" Munch said, and he laughed and so did Greg.

"And give your girlfriend a fright while she's relaxing upstairs?" Greg exclaimed, "She'd have an anxiety attack!"

Munch stepped forward and took hold of the handle and tugged at the stiff door. And Greg watched, stepping closer behind him as he tried it again, then as the door flew open, he gave him a shove. Munch stumbled forward, his head hit the wall with a crack as he cried out and reached out to grab the rail but missed as he fell forward, hit a wall and then fell the rest of the flight of steps.

Greg stepped into the darkness and turned on the light.

He looked down, saw John Munch unconscious and bleeding on the floor, and then he checked his watch, guessed it would be a while before Lisa was back, and then he began to walk down the staircase towards the unconscious detective.

* * *

Lisa took a taxi back to the house.

By now it was just gone five and she paid the driver, got out and carried the bags of groceries up to the front door.

She knocked, still holding the bags, but there was no reply. On glancing back to the road she realised Greg's car was missing and guessed he was still tied up with his business deal. Then she struggled to hold the groceries and fished her key from her pocket and let herself into the house.

The place was silent save for the ticking of the old clock on the wall in the kitchen that sounded louder as she entered the room.

She noticed the cellar door was open and put the groceries on the table and went over to the door and closed it, and then she opened up the fridge and started to pack away the milk and the eggs, then she opened up a cupboard and placed canned food inside it.

Then she looked at the time again, guessed she had better go upstairs and check she had packed everything she needed, and she left the kitchen and went upstairs, hurrying as she went, because she was expecting John to pick her up very soon...

* * *

Munch had been unconscious from the moment he hit the cellar floor.

When he woke up and looked about a dimly lit room, he was on the floor on his side, and his hands had been cuffed in front of him with his own cuffs. His head throbbed and something sticky that ran down his face told him he was definitely bleeding. His arm hurt and it felt like a fracture.

And this was not the basement at the house where Lisa had been staying...this place was _much_ older.

Overhead, pipes dripped water, and the plaster was coming off the walls, exposing old fashioned brick work. The dim light came from a single bare bulb that hung overhead, throwing shadows about the corners of the room.

And Greg Volkov stood over him.

"So you _are_ crazy jealous of me and Lisa," Munch said, and then he coughed and felt a dull ache that he was sure would get a lot worse over the next few days - it felt like a cracked rib.

Greg shook his head as he briefly smirked.

"You think I'm jealous?That's very basic of you, Detective Munch. I'm not jealous at all. I needed to get rid of you because you're a cop. A cop who works in the sex crimes department. You were too close."

Then he leant closer.

Munch thought about kicking out, but decided against it because he was too weakened by the fall to put up enough of a fight not to come out of this as the loser.

"I killed my brother last night," said Greg, "My brother was Vik Dimitry, and before you arrested him,we were set to make a fortune from his home movies of the women he used to assault and rape and sometimes murder. He promised me a fortune and then cut me out, you see. I couldn't get to him while he was in prison, but happily my cover as Lisa's agent enabled me to be in New York to call him and ask him to meet with me upon his release. I gave him another chance but he said he had his own plans. So I killed him and I stole the master copy of his greatest moments, all his best kills and rapes. I'm going to add more of my own to it, too – there's a huge underground market for sex and death, and I'm going to be a wealthy man earning money doing what I love."

As pain throbbed through his body, Munch looked up at him.

"If you hurt Lisa -"

"I'm not going to hurt her yet," he replied, "She's very useful to me. She's stupid, she has no clue who I am or what I really do. She _trusts_ me!"

Then he laughed.

"And she's looking after my master copy of my brother and I and our sex and death collection – and she doesn't even know it!"

Munch felt his body shaking and half was from pain but the other half was caused by pure rage.

" _I'll kill you if you touch her!"_

Then he caught his breath as Greg grabbed his hair and jerked his head upwards, making the injury from the fall throb painfully.

"I _will_ touch her," he promised him, "I'll have my hands all over her - who knows, perhaps tonight, when you don't show up and I convince her you've dumped her? Yes, eventually, I'll have her. Eventually, I shall kill her too. But none of that is your concern any more."

Then he let him go and Munch struggled to stay conscious as his head hit the floor and more pain cut through his mind.

Greg leant over him again and pulled up his sleeve and then stabbed in a needle, and as the pain stung deep, Munch gave a gasp as the contents of the needle were injected quickly.

"You won't be escaping tonight," Greg said as he pulled out the needle and blood ran from the puncture wound, "I'll be back tomorrow. I have to go and find Lisa."

Then he stepped back and looked down at Munch.

" _I'm killing you tomorrow,"_ he said, and those were the last words John Munch heard as he tried and failed to fight against the sedative, and the world turned down to darkness.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The sun had gone down, dusk had brought with it a chill that was starting to bite but as he asked her again if she wanted to go back inside, Lisa shook her head.

"I think he's changed his mind," Greg said to her, and she looked up and down the darkened road, and then she turned away and walked back up the path, and he hurried after her as she went through the open doorway and carried on walking towards the phone on the wall in the kitchen.

"I need to call him," she said as worry crept into her voice,"This isn't like him..."

She was already dialling the number.

Greg stood beside her and watched.

"Maybe he's working on a case."

"He would have _told_ me!" she said sharply, as panic began to reflect in her pale eyes. She stood there and listened, the cell phone rang and rang, and then went to voice mail.

" _John, it's Lisa. Please call me when you get this message."_

She hung up and then grabbed her own cellphone off the table.

"What are you doing?" Greg asked.

She sat down at the table and accessed his number from her call list.

"I can call a lot faster from this one," she said,sounding agitated,"I'm Worried! This isn't right...He said he would be here, if something held him up he would have let me know..."

And she paused to listen, and then left another message:

" _John - call me, I'm worried, where are you?"_

Then she ended the call and put the phone down on the table and looked at it, as if willing it to ring.

"You won't hear from him again," he told her, "Now why don't you just forget him and enjoy the evening, with me?"

She looked up from her phone as her eyes grew wide and panic shone within her gaze.

"I know him well enough to know when something is wrong, Greg! Something _is_ wrong, I can _feel_ it!"

Then she picked up the phone again and searched down her call list.

"I'm calling his work number. He might be at his desk -"

As Greg snatched the phone from her, she caught her breath, and suddenly her heart was racing as she felt trapped as he stood over her, with her phone in his hand.

"Don't call him at work, if he wanted to speak to you, he would call you. Lisa, I'm trying to stop you from getting hurt. He doesn't want to be with you, he's changed his mind."

"He wouldn't do that."

"But he can and I think he just did," he replied, and then he put the phone back on the table in front of her.

"I don't think you want to have that sort of conversation, do you? Think of all the heartbreak you've been through before you met him – he's no different to all the other men who let you down!"

And then he walked out of the kitchen.

As she heard him go up the stairs, Lisa picked up the phone again. And she kept on and on trying to reach him, until the sky outside was pitch black and the stars had come out.

" _John...I need to speak to you. Where are you? I don't understand why you're not picking up! I've called you so many times...I'm worried! You said you would be here by six. It's ten fifteen! Ten fifteen, and Greg keeps saying you've changed your mind. I know that's not true, I know what you said to me...Please, just call me, I'm waiting..."_

* * *

Sometime later, Greg took the cracked and blood stained phone belonging to Detective Munch from his pocket, turned off the ring tone and sent a message to Lisa. Then he smiled, and walked over to the window, pausing to hide the phone beneath the mattress of his bed, and then he went back downstairs to see if the message had done anything to change her mind.

The light was on in the kitchen and the phone was on the table. The message was still up on the screen, and Lisa had opened up a cupboard and started to rearrange cups and plates.

"Read it," she said, and she sounded tearful as she reached into the cupboard, took out a stack of old plastic cups, and set them down on the table.

"It doesn't sound like him at all," she said, placing the cups on the table and then starting to sort them in order of colour, "It's not like him, it doesn't _sound_ like him..."

Greg read the message aloud:

" _Dear Lisa, sorry about this. I have decided its for the best if we no longer see each other. It was not love. Perhaps I should have told you that before. John."_

He put the phone down. She was shifting the cups about in order of pattern now, blue with spots one side, blue with stripes the other, red and green were grouped together. And then she began to turn them over and stack them, colour coordinated, one on top of the other...

"I don't think he sent it," she said as she didn't take her eyes off the cups as she stacked them, "That wasn't from John. And I called the precinct earlier - they said he left this afternoon. He's missing, Greg," she stacked the last cup and looked up at him, panic clear in her pale blue eyes.

" _He's missing,"_ she said again.

"And staying up all night won't help your worry," he added, "You should go to bed now."

"Don't you ever tell me what to do!" she snapped, "You don't care about him, you never liked him, you didn't want him in my life!"

Greg faked surprise as he looked at her.

"I was only trying to protect you, Lisa! And I'm sure if you call him tomorrow, maybe he'll explain himself. Maybe he does still love you, perhaps its just second thoughts...things could be different in the morning."

That was the straw she needed to clutch at, that perhaps it _would_ all be different in the morning...

It came as a great relief to Greg that she was starting to calm down – at least to a level where he could bear her neurotic behaviour.

"What if something has happened to him?" she said quietly.

And she paused, worry reflecting in her eyes as she held on to a cup that she was about to put with the others, "What if that wasn't him on the phone? What if he's in danger? His work is dangerous, Greg. He goes after the worst kind of offenders... _real_ monsters..."

And Greg looked back at her, silently thinking how amusing it was that she had no clue one of those _real monsters_ was standing right in front of her at that very moment...

"I'm going to bed," he said to her, "Goodnight, Lisa."

And then he left the kitchen, leaving her to worry alone, feeling sure no one would take her seriously if she started saying she thought her boyfriend was missing, because who would listen to a crazy woman like her? He was pretty sure the guys at SVU had better things to do than listen to her neurotic babble, and if they did, they would most certainly not take it seriously...

* * *

Lisa stayed up all night.

By the time morning came around, her regular dose of meds did little to stop the anxiety eating her alive, but she didn't dare to up the dose again, because she didn't want to sleep, she just wanted to find answers...

Greg briefly came into the kitchen to make coffee that morning, and she looked at him with confusion in her eyes.

"Why are you up so early? You're _never_ up early, but you _are_ today, _why_?"

One look at her told Greg she was a strung out nervous wreck already.

"This message," she said, indicating to her phone, " _Didn't_ come from John, I'm _sure_ of it! _He doesn't write like that!_ "

And Greg looked at her, saying nothing as he felt a flicker of panic and guessed he should have checked the other messages on the phone before he tried to pass the sender off as John Munch.

As he considered the fact that he had made a mistake, he felt a little shaken up. Then he wondered if Munch was waking up from that shot of sedative yet...

"I don't have time for this," he told her, "I have a meeting with a contractor this morning, about a property renovation. I can't stand around here listening to your hysterical imaginings."

And he drank some of the coffee, then went over to the kitchen work surface and turned his back on her.

She looked down at the phone message again, and shook her head.

"It's not from him. I think he's in danger," she said quietly, and then the _tap tap_ of his credit card on the smooth surface drew her attention.

He leant down and quickly snorted a line of cocaine and then straightened up again, sniffing sharply as he looked at her with eyes bright with a cocaine rush.

"I thought you stopped doing that back in London!" she exclaimed.

"I just needed something extra today – got a challenging morning a head of me."

He sniffed again.

She shook her head.

"Just go, Greg. Leave me to worry about John."

"I will," he replied, "Because it's not my problem. You've been dumped, _why_ don't you just accept that?"

Then he snatched up his car keys and left by the back door, and as she heard the car start up and then drive away, she breathed a relieved sigh. Finally, Greg was out of the way – leaving her free to continue to try and contact her missing lover...

* * *

 _Munch had already been missed._

Cragen came out of his office and looked to the others as worry clouded his eyes.

"Munch didn't go home last night. And there's no answer on his cell phone either. Can anyone shed light on this, or are we looking at something serious?"

Fin spoke up at once.

"He called his girlfriend, said he was picking her at four thirty, yesterday."

"I thought you said he was going out to follow up a lead on a case?"

"I might have been mistaken, " Finn replied, "But I know he said he was meeting his girlfriend at four thirty."

And Cragen looked at him, it was a look that said, he knew he had covered for him when he needed to leave early, and he wasn't best pleased about it either - but all that mattered right now was their missing colleague...

"Well his girlfriend has called the precinct seven times since last night," he added, "She's worried sick."

Then he looked back to Fin.

"I want you to keep trying his cell phone. And go over to the block where he lives, ask around, see if anyone saw him go in and come out before he left...I'm assuming he went home then went over to his girlfriend's place. There was no accident on the way I checked with the hospitals. Just see if you can pull up any leads."

Then he looked to Benson and Stabler as he handed Liv a piece of paper.

"There's the address of the girlfriend. Get over there and talk to her. This needs to take priority until we know otherwise because it seems that we have one of our people missing. Finding Detective Munch is now to be considered urgent."

* * *

As Liv and El took the long drive over to the house where Lisa Linton was staying, neither spoke much at all as they thought about the fact that Munch was missing.

"Maybe we've got this all wrong and he's okay,"El said as he parked the car outside the old house that was half shaded by trees.

"I hope so," Liv replied, and then they both got out and walked together up the path, and Eliot rang the doorbell.

As she opened the door, Lisa looked anxiously at them.

" _I can't find him and I don't l think the message that came from his phone is real. I think someone else sent it. I think something bad has happened...I...I don't know what to do, I need you to help me!"_

She had rattled it off so fast Liv could barely keep up with her.

"And we will," she promised, "Just let us come inside and then you can tell us what happened."

And as they entered the house, El spoke up again:

"You might want to take a deep breath and slow down first," he suggested, but Lisa was already walking off quickly in the direction of the kitchen, and the two detectives exchanged a glance, and then followed.

Liv sat at the table and listened as she read the message on her phone.

"This isn't from John," Lisa said, "he doesn't message me like that."

"What do you mean?"

She shook her head.

"It...just isn't from him."

"I know you want to find him and so do we, but I have to ask you this – were you expecting him to end it with you?"

She looked utterly dismayed at the suggestion.

"No! We were in love! He was going to come over and pick up my bags today, I was moving in with him. He was coming over, he was supposed to come over yesterday!"

"At four thirty?" asked Eliot as he stood looking about the old kitchen.

Confusion clouded her eyes.

"No, at six in the evening."

"You didn't tell him to come over at four thirty?"

She shook her head.

"So he didn't speak to you that afternoon?"

She shook her head again as a look of fear shone in her eyes.

"No...Oh no..."

She took in a shaken breath as her face paled.

"I'd just finished packing...I had a shower and went back to my room to get dressed. I thought I heard the phone ring, but Greg said there had been no calls."

Liv and El exchanged another glance.

"What happened after he said there had been no calls?"Eliot asked her.

"He asked me to go to the store in town for him. I had to walk because he needed the car for a business meeting."

"And when did he comeback?" Olivia asked.

"He was back before six. He waited with me, and then he kept saying John had dumped me. He said he didn't want me to get hurt and I should just go back inside and forget about him. How can I forget the man I love?"

Her eyes were filling with tears.

"He wasn't back when you returned from the store?"

"No," she said.

"Was anything different or out of place in here?" El added.

She looked at him for a moment as she thought back, and then she shook her head.

"I don't think so...No, _wait_ – the cellar door was open. I closed it and put the groceries away and went upstairs to check I'd packed everything."

Eliot went over to the cellar door. He grabbed at the handle and tugged hard, more than once, and then it flew open, groaning on a rusty hinge. He leaned in and turned on the light, looked down the stairway to the concrete floor and then turned back to Liv.

"You need to see this."

As Liv followed, Lisa got up from her chair and Liv turned back as she reached the cellar door.

"Wait there," she said, and she followed Eliot down the stairway.

As she saw him pick up John's tinted glasses, and then she saw the blood on the floor, she looked to El, whose eyes had clouded with worry.

"We need to call this in – it's a crime scene."

And as she gave a sob, Lisa, who had ignored the request to wait behind, fell to her knees at the doorway of the cellar, and started to sob. Liv hurried up to comfort her as El followed, already making the call to summon help.

* * *

As the house was being examined by forensics, Liv waited outside with Fin, who had showed up as soon as word came through, and now the back door of his car was open and Lisa was sitting there as tears streaked her face and Fin ran through more questions with her.

"So this Greg Volkov guy must have told Munch to come over at four thirty?"

She shook her head.

"I don't know," she said tearfully, "I thought I heard the phone ring -"

"Why didn't you answer it?"

"Because I was upstairs!"

"And what about when you went out, you didn't think to take your phone with you?"

" _No!"_ she yelled as her voice bordered on hysteria, _"I didn't think of anything, all I could think of was how much I wanted to get out of this house and go home with John!"_

And then a uniformed officer came up to her and handed her a can of soda, she thanked him, cracked it open and then took a pill and swallowed it down.

Fin turned away, glancing to Olivia.

"Thank God for meds...how does John put up with her?"

"She's scared for him!" Liv said sharply, and then as Eliot came out of the house, she caught the look in his eyes, and knew there was more...

"Lisa, we found traces of cocaine in the kitchen. Can you explain that?"

"It was Greg's. I didn't know he was taking it until today."

" _How convenient."_ added Fin.

She stared at him in horror.

"What is this? You think I'd be apart of a plan to hurt the man I love? I _LOVE_ him!"

And Fin looked hard at her.

"Okay, you might wanna _stop_ yelling at me, Lisa. I'm getting tired of this and I'm _very_ close to arresting you."

Then he glanced at his notebook.

"It looks to me like Volkov's acting alone. But if you know anything else, you need to _tell_ us, do you understand?"

Lisa was staring at him. She was staring and shaking as her eyes filled with tears.

"You think I'm a part of this?" she said as she started to cry, "I _LOVE_ John, _why_ are you blaming me for this? _I didn't know anything about it!_ "

"Or maybe you're covering up for Volkov!" Fin said sharply.

And she gave another sob, and Eliot stepped in.

"Fin, I want you to run a check on the real estate company that leased Volkov this house - if he's rented or purchased any more properties, it could lead us to Munch. Go and do it now. Leave the girlfriend to us, okay?"

Lisa was still sobbing as Liv put a hand on her shoulder and spoke to her softly.

Fin looked at him in surprise.

"I just want to find my partner!"

"And you can't handle her like she's a perp," he said quietly, "I don't think she knows anything."

"And if you're wrong, how much time does Munch have left while you handle her like she's made of glass?"

Eliot looked into his eyes. Fin was scared for Munch, he knew it, but he needed a reminder to pull back on his anger.

"Maybe she is made of glass," he said quietly, "She certainly looks like it to me. And if she cracks, if she has a breakdown over this, do you want to be the one to explain to Cragen why the department's looking at a law suit?"

Fin gave a weary sigh and shook his head.

"I just want to find Munch."

"We all do. But getting heavy with her isn't going to solve anything. She's told us all she knows. It could be thanks to her, we find him."

"Alive or with a bullet in his head?" said Fin bitterly.

"We'll find him," El said again, and he patted his shoulder. Then Fin went off to make more calls, and as Liv led Lisa over to her car, she glanced back at her partner.

"I'm taking her back to the squad room," she said, "She can't stay here."

El nodded, and then Lisa got into the car with Liv, and then Eliot Stabler watched as they drove away, and then he turned back to the house, wondering if the place could give up any more clues to shed light on the disappearance of John Munch...


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

" _Wake up!"_

As he felt a sharp kick that made him double over on the floor, the pain that ran through his body was enough to shake off the effects of the sedative. And then he lay there on his side, looking up at Greg, who glared down at him,it all came flooding back, and Munch tried to think, to estimate how long he had been stuck there in the cellar - but he still felt in a fog from either the drugs, or from the blow to his head when he had fallen the day before:

 _It had to be morning now because the cellar door was open and looking up a flight of wooden stairs, he saw an open door,and beyond that, sunlight shone through a cracked window..._

"I'm going to kill you," Greg stated.

Munch pulled his thoughts together just enough to try and reason with him.

"It's not too late, Greg. You can stop this now and take off and maybe no one will ever find you. If you kill me, the cops will never, _ever_ give up until they find you. And by the way..." he paused, drawing in a breath that hurt his cracked rib, "The trail will lead to the house and to you. Right now I'm sure Lisa is telling the cops everything she knows and when they run checks they will find out all about you - and then it's just a matter of time."

"Lisa knows nothing!" he said angrily, and stepped closer.

Munch knew he couldn't put up a fight lying injured on the floor with his hands cuffed, and he guessed that so far he had got away with some bad bruising, a few cracked bones and a concussion. He could survive all of that. But the only real chance he had of surviving this ordeal was to count on his colleagues to find him in time, and he didn't know if that would be possible.

But he wasn't going to die without speaking his mind, even if the next kick was harder or worse followed...

"Even if you kill me you won't win, they _will_ find you!" he said, "And you will rot in jail for the rest of your days if they don't hand you the death penalty! And Lisa will _still_ love me - and hate _you_ for what you've done!"

Munch had braced himself, expecting to be kicked again, but instead Greg grabbed hold of him and dragged him to his feet. Munch cried out in pain and then reasoned it would be a wise move to let Greg take him up the stairs - that way he could save his strength to put up a fight when they were out of here, and there were no more flights of stairs to negotiate. He thought of Olivia and Eliot and Fin and Cragen, and then he thought of Lisa. Every step was agony, but he let Greg drag him up the stairway, because he was determined to fight and survive,and even if he didn't make it, he would certainly die trying...

* * *

In the squad room, Lisa was sitting with Olivia, and her gaze was fixed on the empty desk that belonged to Munch.

"I just want him back, and I want him safe," she said tearfully.

Liv had already seen an example of how easily Lisa lost it, and she looked at her kindly, speaking to her much in the way she would speak to a victim of an assault, because it was pretty clear that Lisa felt like the victim too – she was frightened, she was looking at her like she seemed sure the world would come to an end if Munch didn't get through this.

"We all want to find him," she said, and then as Lisa rubbed her hands together and blinked away tears, Liv saw the jagged scar on her wrist.

 _Oh great_ , she thought flatly, _Now I have to watch out for two people..._

Liv immediately pulled back on that thought, considering her judgement of her somewhat harsh. She had seen enough victims in her time to know that Lisa had at some point been a victim of _something,_ even if just the harshness of life - not everyone was set up to deal with living and dealing with bad times effectively, and if this applied to Lisa, it wasn't her fault.

Then Liv noticed the way Lisa was holding on to her cellphone, she was clutching at it and kept on looking down at it like she was desperately hoping it was going to ring.

"He won't call you," she said to her, "He can't, not right now. And I'm going to need to take a look at your phone just to confirm what you said about how many times you called him. It's just to check everything you said about what you did when he didn't show up."

Lisa's grip tightened on her phone.

"No, you can't do that."

Liv looked at her in surprise.

"Excuse me? Lisa, we're trying to find Munch, we need that phone!"

"You don't understand," she said quietly, as a flash of guilt darkened her pale eyes," After he left for work he sent me some messages and I sent him some back. This was not on working time - he just wanted to text me while he was having breakfast. I don't want it to affect his job."

"Having a personal conversation is not going to get him in trouble. And if it's what I think it is, no one in this investigation has interest in his sex life, we just want to access everything on the phone to check your story – also there might be something that you missed, that we might spot, that could provide a clue."

She handed the phone over and gave a heavy sigh.

"I don't want him to lose his job over this -"

" _Why would he lose his job?"_

They both looked around to see Cragen had joined them. His gaze fell on the cell phone and then he picked it up.

"What's this about? Is there something you're not telling us, Lisa?"

She shook her head.

"It's not like that -"

"Then I'll take the phone," he replied, and he picked up the cell phone and went back into his office.

"Oh no," Lisa said quietly, and before Liv could ask her why she was so worried, her phone rang, and she picked up the call.

"We've found his gun and his cell phone at the house, in Volkov's room," said Fin, "And I just got a call from the real estate company that leased Volkov the house - he also rented another place about twenty minute's drive from here – the place is falling apart, apparently it seemed a little odd at the time that he was so keen to snap it up – my guess is, that's where he takes his victims."

"And you think he could be over there with Munch?"

"We're on our way to find out." Fin replied, and then he ended the call.

Lisa looked sharply at Liv.

"What's happening?"

"Did Greg ever talk to you about a second property?"

She shook her head.

"All I know is, he was busy with property deals - I thought he was buying a place."

"No, but he rented a second property not far from where he was living."

She shook her head.

"I didn't know that."

Then she thought for a moment.

"I remember on the day we moved in I was very stressed,I had to take my meds to cope, I slept very heavy that night...but I thought I heard noises. I heard Greg talking on the phone but I couldn't understand him, and then I heard a woman scream. But I thought it was a dream. What if it wasn't? What else is he capable of?"

Liv shook her head.

"I don't know," she replied, "But you can be sure we will find out when this is over."

"How could I not see it?" Lisa said to her, "Why couldn't I see what he was really like? I knew he was a bastard but I thought he was just being tough over business, it was all about making money..I didn't think he would ever hurt anyone."

"How much cocaine did he take this morning?"

"I saw him take some...I think a single line, but I don't know how much he put in it. I don't take drugs, Detective Benson. The only medication I use is necessary and prescribed by my doctor. And I thought Greg was clean now."

"You didn't know him at all, you just thought you did," Liv said to her, "And it's not your fault you didn't see through his act. You had no way of knowing what he was really capable of, and I'm sure Munch didn't see it, either. Some people are really clever at hiding their true face. And when you see it, when the mask comes off, its too late. But the good news about guys like Greg is, eventually, they get over confident and they make mistakes. He's already made several because Munch's cell phone and gun have been found at the house hidden in his bedroom. He's not as smart as he thinks he is, and that's good news for all of us."

Lisa drew some comfort from her words.

"So you think John stands a chance of being found alive?"

"I hope so," Liv replied, as she wished she could be more positive, but to say more, to suggest that was definite, really would have been hoping for too much...

* * *

Cragen sat in his office and looked at Lisa's phone. He noticed he battery was low, so he checked the call records quickly, noticed that Lisa had tried to call Munch more than forty times since he had gone missing, and then he went on to look at the text messages.

And then he realised what Lisa had been so anxious about, as he read a message sent by Munch:

 _'It means a lot that you understand. I came so hard last night when you held me down. Take me over again tonight, I'll love you always, Munchman.'_

Munch liked to be mildly dominated?

He checked another message, a reply from Lisa, _'I love you too, and I'll always hold you down till you cant take it any more.'_

Cragen breathed a weary sigh.

He had never thought Munch would be the type to be into kink. And it wouldn't look too good if this got out, either - because this was the Special Victim's Unit, officers working this unit were supposed to have no sexual kinks... Even though John's kinks seemed mild, he knew he couldn't let this get any further. But Fin had already called in to say, they had found John's phone. _And if Munch hadn't cleaned out his messages..._

Cragen picked up the phone and called Fin's number.

"We're on the way over to the house now, Cap," Fin said.

"Do you have John's phone?"

"Yeah, I gave it to Stabler, why?"

"Where's Stabler?"

"Right next to me."

"Okay, just hold on to that phone don't pass it to anyone else - and when you get back here I want you to hand it to _me_ , okay?"

"Okay," Fin replied, and then the call ended.

Cragen looked at Lisa's phone once more and thought long and hard about what to do for the best:

 _Deleting the relevant messages off both phones seemed like the best option once the other phone was handed into his office..._

* * *

Munch had shifted between wanting to pass out and needing to draw up the last reserve of his strength to fight back as he was shoved out of the back door and then stumbled down some steps towards the open door of a parked car.

 _That car was his own..._

As pain and dizziness swamped him he saw the open door growing closer, he looked at the back seat and he knew, because he had seen enough crime scenes to predict how this would play out:

 _Greg planned to kill him, leave his body in his own car, maybe he would fire it afterwards when he dumped it to destroy the evidence, or maybe not...he saw no gasoline unless it was already in the trunk._

So far, he had seen no weapon, and if Greg planned to finish him off with his fists he felt sure that gave him some hope that it would be a fight he might stand a chance to win. He was in pain and covered in blood from the head wound that throbbed and made his vision blur as dizziness came over him in waves, and he sharply reminded himself he was _not_ going out without a fight as he was given another shove and stumbled closer to the car.

It was then Munch wondered again about the murder weapon. Unless he had taken his gun and it was already in the car, he saw nothing... Greg definitely wasn't armed. He had seen no weapons when he had been standing over him.

Then Greg gave him another shove and he put up his hand, catching the roof of the car as he balanced there for a moment as the world spun violently again and his vision blurred heavily. Then Munch saw the hammer on the front passenger seat,and that was when he made a last desperate attempt for freedom, turning around and slamming a fist into Greg's face.

He stumbled back, but then Munch saw fury in his eyes as he brought up his fist, and the blow to his face knocked him back, and Munch fell heavily beside the open car door. Greg dragged him in, and even the weight of his body hitting the back seats caused him agony. As he lay there deciding the safest thing to do would be to play dead, all thoughts of kicking out at his assailant were cancelled by the slamming of the car door, a jolt that shook at his cracked bones.

Then Greg was in the car, and he looked back at him, his eyes dark and cold as he smiled.

"I'm driving you out to the woods," he said, "Then I'm going to kill you with a hammer and set light to the car. I shall walk back here, clean up, get changed, then go home. If the police _think_ they have anything on me, they won't be able to prove it."

The blood was drying tight on his face and Munch managed to open his eyes briefly, and then he closed them again, thinking only of the fact that he had little time left to stop him - and the best way he could try for it now, would be to attack him while he was at the wheel. His hands were cuffed, but if he could get them over the front seat and choke him...The car would crash, but it was all he had left now...

* * *

As Fin drove towards the road that led to their destination, back up followed behind, and he kept his eyes on the road at all times as he sped up, hoping they would not be too late.

"He's got to be at the house," he said.

"What did Cragen want?" Eliot asked.

"He asked us to hold on to John's phone."

"It's safe with me,"El replied, trying not to think too much about how sick he had felt placing the blood stained phone into an evidence bag, "We're about ten minutes away from the house now...maybe we won't be too late."

"Ten minutes is too long for me," said Fin, and he pushed the car harder, picking up more speed as he thought of Munch and desperately hoped his partner was still alive.

* * *

When Cragen finished another phone call, he left his office and walked over to the desk where Olivia sat with Lisa, who was telling her everything that had happened, and Olivia was writing it down, knowing the statement had to be useful - but feeling certain she would have been of more use out there looking for Munch instead of making the choice to be the one to look after his girlfriend and started the paperwork.

"I just spoke to law enforcement agencies in Russia and the United Kingdom," Cragen said, and he looked to Lisa, knew there would be no easy way to break the news, and then turned his attention to Liv:

"Volkov's got a record for sexual assault and was tried for rape in '97 but the case collapsed due to lack of evidence. And running his DNA through the system, I've matched him to a recent attempted rape - our man with the camera – and also to the murder of Vik Dimitry. I did some digging and guess what? Volkov is Dimitry's brother. They were both in the business of filming rape and murder and selling it on the black market. It looks like Vik was the main man and his little brother wanted in, but then Vik went to prison. He comes out, gets murdered, there's something in it for Greg – I'm guessing there's a tape or a disc somewhere, his master copy. It's all Greg would have been interested in – Vik was ruined financially by his time inside."

Then he looked again to Lisa.

"Have you ever seen any camera equipment, or a tape, anything that he might have wanted to keep safe somewhere?"

Lisa thought about it.

"He bought a camcorder...high end...he got it in London, he brought it with him."

"Do you know where the camera is now?"

She shook her head

"At the house?I don't know, I'm guessing, I don't know where he puts his personal possessions."

"What kind of camera?" Cragen asked her, "Is it a video camera or does it record to a disc?"

"It looked quite small...a disc, I think."

"Okay,I'll get uniform to go over the place again. Are you sure there's nothing else you can tell me?"

She shook her head, and then he saw fear in her eyes.

"How long before we get news on John?" she said quietly.

"Hopefully soon, if he's at the house," Cragen said, "Our people will be there in the next few minutes."

And Lisa looked to Liv, and in that moment Olivia Benson saw such fear in her eyes she felt sure if Munch didn't make it, neither would his girlfriend, because she looked on the brink of collapse.

* * *

Munch was on his side, on the back seat of the car, his hair and face streaked with dried blood that had stiffened his clothing and every bone in his body ached and the pain came and went in waves, and those waves went so deep he wanted to throw up. But his thoughts were on that hammer on the front passenger seat. He knew if he didn't fight back, Greg was going to kill him.

He also knew movement would hurt, but at least pain reminded him that for now, he was still alive – and wouldn't stay that way unless he did something decisive...

As Greg reached for the keys to start the engine, Munch lunged forward, bringing his cuffed arms over the top of the driver's seat.

Then he pulled on the cuffs as his cracked wrist throbbed, and pulled back tightly against Greg's throat.

Greg started to choke and thrash about wildly, and suddenly the hammer was in his hand and he was lashing out blindly behind him, and as he slammed the hammer down, and then as his wrist hit the top of the seat with a crack, the claw end of the hammer glanced the side of his head as Munch jerked back, he felt a thump and then flesh tearing, and as he felt another wave of dizziness, his last thoughts as lost consciousness was that it wasn't the hammer that had caused it, because the hammer had only glanced him - this had to be down to the fall from the cellar steps,because his head had been hurting since he had been knocked out... He guessed it was over, that Greg would kill him for sure,and then Munch slumped back, and Greg grabbed his cuffed hands and pushed them off his throat, and shoved Munch against the now blood spattered back seat of the car, and as he gasped for air and reached a shaking hand towards the keys in the ignition, he saw flashing lights and then the driver's door was wrenched open.

Greg stared in shock at the detective who stood there, pointing a gun in his face.

"Give me a reason to pull this trigger," said Fin as anger blazed in his eyes. Eliot pulled open the back door, saw blood up the window and blood on the seats, and John Munch lying motionless, battered and bleeding with his hands cuffed.

Tears burned in his eyes as he looked over his shoulder to his colleagues.

" _Someone call a bus!"_ he yelled.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Olivia Benson was ready to go, she was ready to leave the squad room and drive Lisa to the hospital - and since word had come through that Munch was in a serious condition, Lisa was bordering on hysterical - and as she gave another sob and told her to hurry up, Liv grabbed her coat, checked her car keys were in the pocket and turned for the door.

 _Then Cragen called her name._

She turned back.

Lisa stared at him.

 _"There's no time for work, no time for this case, John is badly hurt and I want to see him!"_

Her voice had echoed across the squad room, and Cragen looked wearily at her, hoping Munch - assuming he survived - would never have to put up with this woman in this state of mind, _ever_...

"You can't leave yet," he said to Lisa, "Something turned up on the second search of the house. We found the disc. It was in _your_ possession."

Lisa froze. She drew in a sharp breath and looked from Liv to Cragen.

" _I want to see John!"_ she yelled, and then she started to sob.

"No, not until we've cleared this up," Liv said calmly, "Come and sit down and -"

" _NO!"_

She pushed her away, and Liv grabbed her, and Lisa gave a yell as she easily contained her with an arm held behind her back as Liv spoke to her again.

"We have to do this. It's procedure! It's for you as much as John! Are you going to calm down, or do I have to cuff you?"

Lisa gave another sob and as all fight left her body, Liv let go.

"You have to keep it together. Sit down and we can clear this up now. I don't want to take you to an interrogation room."

Lisa turned to her with tears streaking her face.

"I'm a suspect? I _love_ him!"

As Liv led her back over to the desks, she glanced to Cragen, and he watched as she led her over to the desk where Munch usually sat, and as she sat down in his chair, Lisa placed her hands on the desk and gave another sob as she ran her fingertips over the surface.

"I love him!" she said again,"You don't know -"

"I think we do," Cragen said as he sat down and joined Liv, "We _do_ know you love him. We know how many times you tried to call him after he went missing."

Her tearful gaze reflected utter confusion.

"So why are you keeping me here? You said he was hurt, I want to be with him -"

"Lisa, I need to ask you some questions first. Then I need to compare the prints on the disc with yours."

She shook her head.

"What disc?"

"The one we found in the leather cosmetics case," Cragen said, "It was hidden under false lining."

Lisa thought back.

"I don't remember a case..."

"You have to think, Lisa," Liv said gently, "I know you're upset and everything else has slipped your mind but this matters - you could be incriminated unless you can help us."

Lisa looked from Liv to Cragen as she tried to think of the right answer, but then tears formed in her eyes again and she gave another sob as only one thought stayed bright in her mind.

" _I want to see John!"_

Then she reached out and grasped Liv's hands.

"Don't tell me you don't know what it's like to love someone so much they mean everything to you! We have a love that matters ,it's _not_ something that won't last! _It's real, like the love you and Detective Stabler share!_ "

And Liv froze, feeling Cragen's eyes burning into her.

"There's nothing going on between me and Stabler," she said.

"I know that," Cragen added,"You're working partners. I think you misinterpreted their relationship, Lisa."

She stared at Cragen and shook her head.

"What _is_ this? Is everyone lying? Are you all conspiring to drag me into what ever Greg's done? _Why_ are you doing this to me?"

Liv pulled her hands back from Lisa's grip and kept her composure, remembering Lisa was almost hysterical, and although she wanted her to calm down, right now, it made for a perfect excuse to cover up the truth about her and El...

"Just tell us about the case," Cragen said,"Tell us all you know, we'll check your prints are not on the disc, and that puts you in the clear. Then you can go to the hospital and see John. I promise you that is what will happen."

She fell silent, looking nervously from Cragen to Liv.

"The red leather cosmetics case," Liv reminded her, "It looks expensive."

Then Lisa remembered.

"One of Greg's shitty gifts," she said quietly, "I never thought anything of it. I put it on the dresser and left it there, I wasn't even going to take it with me when I left, because it was from him, and I don't like him."

"When did he give it to you?" Liv asked.

"Before I moved out. He said he didn't have the key, or he lost the key...something like that. He said he was going to get me a key, but until then he just wanted me to keep it."

"Did you try and open it?" Cragen asked her.

She shook her head.

"It didn't mean anything to me, I didn't even want it. I left it on the dresser."

"Okay," Cragen replied "I'm satisfied with your answers. I need to check your prints to make sure they don't match any prints on the disc. Once that's confirmed, you can go and see John."

"How long will that take?" Lisa asked anxiously.

"Not too long," he assured her, and then as Fin walked into the squad room, he spoke again.

"Detective Benson, I want you to go to the hospital and meet with Detective Stabler and see how John's doing. Fin, I need you to have Lisa's prints compared to the prints on the disc - it's just to eliminate her, she's not under arrest. Then I'd like you to wait with her until she's cleared to leave and drive her to the hospital."

Fin looked to Lisa, who was tearful and shaken and looked like she might have another outburst at any minute.

"Captain, if she's not under arrest, maybe someone _else_ should -"

"I asked _you_ to do it,"Cragen said.

"Okay, Cap," Fin said reluctantly, "I'll leave Munch's phone with you first - Stabler passed it on to me."

And then he went into Cragen's office, left the phone on the desk and came out again, and then he looked to Lisa - and recalled how they had not exactly got along the last time they had met.

"Come with me," he said to her, "Let's get this cleared up and then I'll take you to see Munch."

* * *

When Olivia arrived at the hospital, she found Eliot sitting alone in a waiting area. His eyes looked tearful and until she had approached him, he had fixed his gaze at the wall, and as he looked at her she couldn't read his expression -anger, shock, pain, it was all in there...

"Who's questioning Volkov?" he said quietly.

"No one yet. Cragen wants to keep him on ice for a few hours, see how he reacts when he finds out we have the disc. There are other prints on it too, so we might be able to trace possible buyers who have handled or viewed it if we can persuade him to talk."

"I wouldn't mind some time alone with him," El said in a low voice, "I'd soon make him talk. I'm sure Fin feels the same way."

"Me too," Liv admitted, "But we have to play by the rules. Any news on Munch?"

Eliot paused. He drew in a slow breath and looked down at the floor as he pulled back on his raw emotions.

It had been a shock, finding Munch like that, barely alive and beaten and covered in blood. He had thought, for one terrible moment that his friend and colleague was dead, until he had reached into the car and felt for a pulse...

"I keep seeing him like that, every time I think about what happened," El said quietly, "I never thought something like this would happen to Munch. I just didn't think I'd find him like that and -"

"It was a shock, Eliot. Maybe you need to talk about it, process it -"

"No, I need to think about how fast life can change!" El said sharply, "Two days ago he was happy saying he was in love again, he was looking to the future, he was planning the rest of his life!"

"And no one knew this would happen, but he's a cop and you know the risks."

El looked at Liv and shook his head.

"He wasn't even investigating Volkov! Wrong place, wrong time, wrong situation! Liv..." he paused, blinking away tears,"This _wasn't_ work. This didn't happen in the line of duty. This was him getting on with his life and trying to be happy - and now he's in surgery because that bastard hit him so hard he's got internal bleeding!"

Liv paused, gathering her thoughts.

"No one knew this would happen," she repeated. Then she looked into his eyes, but that anger and sense of shock was still burning brightly.

"These things _just happen,_ do they? Will Munch feel that way if he comes out of this with brain damage? Will he say it was just something that happened, like it was no big deal? Is Lisa going to think it's just one of those things, that _shit happens_ , if he dies?"

Tears were running down Eliot's face.

"If he doesn't make it, she's going to be a victim of Volkov's crimes too. Lisa can't live without him. Her and Munch have the real thing. _Like you and me_."

And then he fell silent for a moment, drawing in a breath as he wiped his eyes and composed himself once more.

"Do you get it now?" he said in a hushed voice, "Do you get that life is too short to settle for anything less than what we deserve? We deserve each other, Liv. And we shouldn't be wasting time, because life is too short. We need to make the most of _now_."

That look was still in his eyes, and as she looked at him, she felt as if something had just changed between them for the first time since they had started their secret relationship.

"What's going on with you, Eliot?" she said, and he just shook his head.

"It's about something I should have done a long time ago...I'm starting to realise there's no point in living half a life because tomorrow, it could all be over. It should be all or nothing."

 _She got it now._

And as Liv thought about it, she felt a flicker of panic.

"It's been an emotional day, we should think about this -"

"No," he said to her, "I'm not wasting another day or another night thinking and not moving forward."

Eliot looked intently at her, and then through the swirl of emotions that had troubled his gaze, she saw a flicker of warmth as he smiled and then gave her hand a squeeze.

"Come on, Liv – say something?"

"What about our jobs?"

"You know I'd never make you choose."

She didn't want to say what else was on her mind, but she couldn't keep it back from him, not when she had a firmer grip on her emotions than Eliot - even though she felt the effects of the day's events as much as he did.

"You can't let what happened today affect the rest of our lives. You need to think about it carefully."

"I want to know what _you_ think."

Liv hesitated.

"I don't want to be the one who breaks up your marriage and takes a father away from his children."

"But you love me, right?"

She couldn't lie. El had her locked in his gaze, and she gave a heavy sigh.

"You know I do."

"So I guess the price we pay for that is living half a life, never having what we really want, even though tomorrow it could all be over, is that what you really want, Liv?"

Regret reflected in her eyes.

"I think we should settle for what we can realistically have - I told you before, I don't dream about the things that might have been."

" _I do,"_ El told her, _"I think about it every day."_

And then a doctor walked up the corridor to join them, and Benson and Stabler both got up from the seats and exchanged a glance, both silently hoping the news about Munch would only be good.

* * *

As Fin walked with Lisa back towards the squad room, he cast a glance at her and guessed it would probably be safe to speak to her again, now the prints had confirmed she had never touched the disc. Maybe she would be less inclined to have another outburst... He hoped he was right, because Lisa was way too worked up and easily upset to ever be his kind of girl. But if Munch loved her, that was his business, and he wanted to respect that.

"I'm sorry of we got off to a bad start," he said, "But Munch is my partner. I just wanted to find him."

They stepped into the squad room and Lisa's gaze shifted to John's empty desk.

"Lisa?" he said, and she turned her head, blinked and slipped out of her own thoughts as she looked at him.

"I want to leave," she said, "Take me to John."

"I will," Fin promised, "I just need to speak to my boss and then we can go."

And then he went over to Cragen's office and knocked on the door.

* * *

Cragen had just finished deleting the incriminating messages off both cell phones – he had wiped off everything that mentioned John's liking for being dominated – and although he didn't need any more convincing of Lisa's innocence, now he had listened to the messages she had left on John's phone on the night he had gone missing, each one growing more emotional and anxious, it was only the Captain's sense of professional conduct that stopped him from walking over to her and putting his arms around her and holding her tight, for as long as she needed him to. She had already been through enough, and she didn't even know how badly injured her lover was - and someone _still_ had to break the news to her...

"I'm taking Lisa to the hospital now," Fin said.

Cragen hesitated, and as Fin caught the look in his eyes, for one cold, heart stopping moment, he thought the news would be the worst imaginable, but then the Captain explained:

"Olivia called while you were getting the prints checked. Munch is out of surgery. He's not awake yet, but the surgeon said there doesn't appear to be any brain damage - but it could be a while before Munch makes a full recovery. That's assuming he pulls through. He's not out of danger, he's still critical."

Fin allowed himself to breathe a sigh of relief that Munch was still alive, right now, he couldn't hope for more under the circumstances.

"And someone needs to tell Lisa before she goes to the hospital," Cragen added.

Fin blinked.

"Tell her what?"

"She doesn't know the extent of his injuries. She certainly didn't know he had a head injury that required surgery. She was too upset to be told anything until we could eliminate her from the case."

Fin glanced back at Lisa, who was waiting anxiously by the door, and then he looked back at Cragen.

"You want _me_ to tell her? Cap, she flips out. I don't need this -"

"I don't care what you need or don't need!" Cragen said sharply, "I've asked you to handle this situation, if you have a problem with my authority I need to ask myself if this is insubordination, Detective!"

Fin gave in.

"Captain, it's not like that – she's hard to handle. What do I do if she freaks out on me? I can hardly arrest her for being distraught!"

"Take her outside, get in the car, tell her the truth and then drive over to the hospital..If she's still hysterical by the time you get there, tell her she can't see John until she's calmed down. Some how I don't think she will be like that. She just wants to be with him. Please take her to him - leave now - _don't_ delay, because Munch is still critical."

Cragen's words had got through to him. Fin nodded, said no more, and left his office, and then Cragen watched as Fin joined Lisa at the doorway, and then they left together.

* * *

"This way," Fin said as they left the building and walked through the parking area and he indicated to his car.

"Thank you," Lisa told him as he opened up the car door and she got in the passenger seat, and then she looked up at him, her eyes still red from crying, "This is all I want - I just want to be with John. He must be missing me. How did he get hurt? Did Greg hit him?"

Fin closed the passenger door,walked around to the driver's side and got in.

Then he glanced at her as he collected his thoughts:

 _Had Greg hit him?_

 _What was she expecting, a few bruises?_

 _Greg had almost killed Munch..._

 _This wasn't going to be be easy._

He thought about all the times he had ever had to break bad news during his career as a cop, and he drew on that as he began to speak, as he tried not to think about the fact that the guy he was talking about was his friend and partner...

"Lisa," he said as he turned and met her gaze, "Before we leave, you need to know what's happened to Munch."

"What do you mean?"

He saw a flicker of fear in her eyes as she drew in a breath and looked back at him, and he hoped she wouldn't fall apart when he told her the whole story.

"We couldn't tell you before, because you had to be interviewed and we needed your help to clear your association with the disc -"

" _Just tell me what's happened to John! I want to know!"_

Already she sounded rattled, that look was back in her eyes, and Fin was dreading her reaction to what he said next, but continued to play it out as Cragen had advised as he continued explaining:

"Munch was held for almost two days by Greg Volkov. In that time he went through a lot. He's got fractures and bruising all over his body, and a scalp laceration that was so bad he was covered in his own blood. When we found him, I thought he was dead. He was in the back of the car, Greg had cuffed him and he was so badly injured he was deeply unconscious by the time we got to him."

She stared at him, taking in all he had said, but feeling too shocked to even speak as she thought of Greg, who she had never known to be capable of such violence...

"And he had a head injury – a blow to the head that the hospital said would have happened more than twenty four hours ago. That was the worst of his injures, it caused a bleed to the brain and he had to undergo surgery for it. Cragen said he's pulled through but he's still critical. Munch may not make it. I'm sorry, Lisa."

" _No,"_ she whispered, _"No, that can't be right...He's not going to die, tell me they made a mistake...tell me he's okay..."_

And as she crumbled and started to weep, Fin felt slightly bad for feeling relieved she had not started yelling at him like she had before. Then he reached over for her seat belt and secured it for her, and as she continued to cry, he started up the car, hanging on to the thought that Munch was a fighter and had to pull through - because he felt like crying too - and he couldn't break down now, not in front of Lisa...

Fin kept that thought in mind as he drove on towards the hospital:

He was going to stay strong for Munch, and if any tears would be shed he would be doing that later, if Munch lost his fight. That was when he would weep, _if_ the worst happened and he had to mourn the loss of his partner...


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

On arriving at the hospital, Fin had hoped that once he had seen Munch, perhaps the worst of his fears would be gone, because he had come through a lot, and he had survived. But when he saw him recovering from surgery, still unconscious with a dressing taped to the side of his head, he felt no more hopeful than when he had first walked though the door:

 _He saw the bruises, the cuts, and even though he had been cleaned up since they had found him in the back of the car, he still looked in a bad way._

"There's not likely to be any change tonight," Olivia said quietly, "The doctor said he most likely won't start waking up until tomorrow morning."

Fin nodded, his gaze still fixed on Munch as he thought of the man responsible for this, and how he couldn't wait to get back to work because he wanted to be the one to question him. That would be a _real_ test of his restraint, too - because after seeing Munch like this, Fin definitely wanted to kill Volkov...

"Where did Lisa go?" he wondered, recalling how she had walked into the room, gone up to John, touched his hand, leant over him and spoken softly to him, and then after a brief pause had said she wouldn't be long and she had left the room, and since then, there had been no sign of her...

"She said something about needing to speak to the doctor," Liv replied.

Then Fin realised some one _else_ was absent.

"When did Stabler go home?"

"About an hour ago," Liv told him, "It's been a long day, he's so upset over Munch, this has hit him very hard. Home is probably the best place for him right now."

And then she fell silent, considering all that Eliot had said about how Munch's brush with death had made him think about his own situation. Liv hoped that El was now at home, and sleeping deeply, where his troubles – and _their_ troubles – would cause him no more worry. He was right, of course - life was short and tomorrow it could be all over, but the kind of decisions he had talked about were choices that needed a great deal of thought before a decision could be made.

She hoped when she saw him in the morning, he would come into work rested after a good night's sleep, and with that look of shock gone from his eyes. It was better to carry on as normal than step outside of that and take a chance – even if that choice was best for both of them – because it would create a terrible fall out regarding his family...

Then Lisa returned to the room, and as she walked in, Liv was surprised to see she looked much brighter, and Fin was simply relieved to see that she no longer looked like she was about to have another melt down.

"Where have you been?" said Liv.

"I was speaking to the doctor who carried out the surgery," she replied, "And I've seen the scans – before and after - and it's not as bad as it seems. The bleed was very minor and the procedure had no complications. I've seen injuries like this before and they usually heal with little or no lasting damage at all. But he's still listed as critical because of the surgery, they won't take him off life support until he's awake, they have to keep him monitored. After that, he should be fine. When I say _fine_ , I know he's got some cracked bones and some stitches – and he's going to be off work for a couple of months at least - but he's going to recover, I'm sure of it now."

Fin looked at her in confusion.

"Since when did _you_ become an expert? This is a hospital, I may be wrong about this assumption, but I thought in this place only trained medical personnel would know the score when it comes to making a diagnosis."

Sadness still shaded her eyes, but she sounded stronger as she replied.

"I used to be a nurse, I used to work in a hospital, in the accident and emergency department. It was a long time ago, but I understand what's going on and I'm feeling a lot more hopeful now I understand the situation."

Fin and Liv exchanged a surprised glance.

Then Fin looked to Lisa, and his expression was still one of surprise. Liv guessed he was wondering how someone as emotionally fragile as Lisa could have ever have held down such a demanding job, and she was very glad that he didn't voice that opinion aloud.

"I'm going to stay with him tonight," Lisa added, "You should both go home if you want to, I'll stay with him."

"What about later on?"Liv asked her, "The house is still sealed off as a crime scene, you can't go back there yet."

"I'm staying here until John wakes up," she told her, "I won't leave until I know he's conscious and stable."

"I'll call you in the morning," Liv replied.

"In the mean time, let us know if there's any change in his condition," Fin reminded her.

Lisa had sat down next to his bed and as she took hold of John's hand, she glanced back at Liv and Fin.

"Don't worry," she said, "I'll call as soon as he wakes."

Then they left the room,and Lisa continued to hold John's hand as she watched him sleeping deeply.

"You're okay now," she said softly, "You survived, John. The worst is over."

Then she paused as she blinked away tears and then reached out and cautiously touched his bruised face.

"It's going to be fine," she promised him, "You're safe now..."

* * *

After returning to work, Fin didn't care that it was growing late, that it had been the worst day he could remember for a long, long while – or that he had been given the job of speaking to Volkov, who he wanted to kill. All that concerned him was the fact that he knew once he stepped into the interrogation room, he had to remember Cragen was on the other side of the two way mirror - and that meant keeping his hands, and his fists _off_ the suspect.

 _That was going to be a real challenge,too._

 _Because he had just come from the hospital, he had seen what that bastard had done to Munch..._

"Are you sure you don't want me to bring other detectives in?" Cragen asked as they reached the closed door, "Because I know how close you are to this case. I know how angry you are too, I'm trusting you to exercise restraint, Fin."

He nodded.

"I'm okay with this," Fin promised him, and then he went into the room and walked over to the table and sat down, looking across it at Greg Volkov, as he remembered that Cragen and other detectives were standing on the other side of the two way mirror.

 _As he met with Greg's gaze, he felt like killing him._

 _But then he thought of Munch, and of how he had a job to do - and he had to do it right for the sake of his partner..._

* * *

A few moments passed by as Fin looked at Greg, and Greg looked back at him.

Then Fin broke the silence.

"I'm wondering what you're going to say to me because we have all the evidence we need to convict you, yet still you won't talk. What _else_ are you hiding?"

Greg ran his fingers through his hair and shot Fin a charming smile.

"I haven't done anything wrong," he stated.

" _You killed your brother."_

He smiled as his eyes glittered darkly.

"Prove it."

"We can tie your DNA to the murder scene."

He shrugged.

"So I visited my brother on the day he was killed. He was alive when I left him!"

"You killed him."

" _Prove it or let me go."_

"What about Detective John Munch?" he said, and his gaze hardened, "How did he wind up in the back of your car, cuffed and beaten? Your prints were on the hammer, and his blood was on it too."

Greg leaned back in his chair and gave a sigh.

"Self defence. He tried to kill me and I fought back. I was forced to cuff him, because he was determined to kill me. It was over Lisa."

"And you were going to do what, drive him to the hospital and then report everything that happened?"

"If you say so," Greg replied as amusement danced in his eyes.

Fin shook his head.

"You really _should_ call a lawyer."

"I've already declined. There's no rush. This is not the way it seems."

"You're deluded," Fin told him, "We spoke to Lisa. She said she loved Munch, and it didn't take her long to figure out just what you were capable of. She was afraid of you!"

"I gave her everything," he replied bitterly, "If not for me she would still be a nobody! I made her successful! She _owes_ me!"

"What about the girl you took back to the house?" Fin asked him, "Not the house where you took Munch and kept him in the basement - I mean the house you shared with Lisa, on the night you got careless and your victim ran away."

All trace of amusement had gone from his eyes and then Greg's face paled.

"What?" he said coldly.

"The day you killed your brother you abducted a young woman and took her back to the house. You wanted another rape to add to your collection – to put on the disc your brother made, we know about that because your DNA matches up."

Suddenly Greg had nothing to say as he looked at Fin and a flicker of fear shone in his eyes.

"What disc?" he said in a hushed voice.

"The one you planted on Lisa!" Fin said sharply.

Now Greg was panicking, it was clear in his eyes.

"I know nothing about a disc!"

" _Your prints are all over it!"_ Fin yelled.

Greg fell silent for a moment.

"I did not kill my brother, I know nothing about a disc and Detective Munch attacked me first- because Lisa was in love with _me_! I can't help it that a dead man can't be hereto admit his side of the story!"

Fin shook his head.

As he looked at Greg Volkov, his fist was balled up and he wanted to slam it into his lying, deluded mouth, but instead he remembered his colleagues were watching on the other side of the glass, and he spoke again.

"Detective Munch is going to be just fine," he replied,"He _survived,_ Greg! And pretty soon he's going to tell us what really happened. The evidence is already there, we have all the proof we need to convict you. You killed your brother, you stole the disc and then you attempted to rape a woman to add to the rape collection. The _rape and murder_ collection _already_ on that disc! We also know you have tried to contact others interested in buying the disc, and we know you attacked and tried to kill Detective Munch because, what? You knew he was a sex crimes detective, or because he was in love with Lisa, and that made you jealous? Or was it for _both_ reasons?"

Greg was visibly shaken now as he ran his fingers through sweat-dampened hair and looked nervously to Fin.

 _"I'm saying nothing more until I call my lawyer,"_ he said.

"I'll arrange that for you," Fin replied, and then he got up from his seat and left the room, breathing a relieved sigh as he closed the door behind him and met with Cragen outside.

"Good work, Fin," said the Captain, "We've got him now."

And Fin looked through the two way mirror, looking in at Greg, who was still shaken up as he sat alone in the interrogation room. As he looked at him Fin felt a certain sense of relief that Volkov would never see the outside world again – if he was lucky he would spend the rest of his life behind bars, if the state didn't push for the death penalty.

But knowing he had brought him to justice didn't bring him all the comfort he felt it should, because now all Fin could do was keep hoping that Lisa was right, that Munch would pull through and be okay - because he didn't want to think about life without his friend and partner, life without Munch was something he found too painful to contemplate...

* * *

The last thing John Munch recalled was being cuffed in the back of his own car, then fighting with Greg Volkov - and suddenly everything had gone dark.

 _He had thought it was the end._ But clearly it wasn't because as he opened his eyes, he felt a dull sense of aching all over his body, but the pain seemed far enough away to make the ache bearable.

He wondered if he was dreaming, and then as he saw Lisa sitting in a chair next to his bed he knew this was no dream. Munch blinked away heavy sleep as he watched her there, resting awkwardly on the chair, her eyes closed as she slept on, and he wanted to reach out and run his hand over her hair, but his body felt weak and he still felt too tired to move.

Then as the fog began to lift and he realised he was in a hospital room, he breathed out slowly, feeling relief flood through him as it hit him that the nightmare was over.

"Lisa," he whispered, and talking was an effort, and as he still felt too heavy to move he guessed he was on some pretty strong pain relief to feel this subdued.

Lisa raised her head, he watched as she opened her eyes, blinked and still looked tired, then she shifted stiffly in the chair and sat up, and as their eyes met, and he saw her gaze fill with tears of relief, he guessed he wasn't wrong when he had wondered if this had been a close call - clearly it had, because for a moment, she couldn't speak as joy and relief shone in her eyes.

"John?" she said, and then she took hold of his hand.

He wanted to hold on to her tightly, but could only manage to grip her hand weakly because he still felt heavy from the medication.

"What happened?" he whispered.

"They found you, Fin and Eliot got to you just as Greg was trying to start up the car to drive away. What do you remember about it all, John?"

Munch paused, he closed his eyes, and then as the drugs tried to pull him back to sleep he opened his eyes again, determined to fight his drowsiness.

"Greg trapped me...called me, said to come over at four thirty...he pushed me down the steps...I blacked out."

"How long for?"

"He was there when I opened my eyes...seconds,I don't know. Then I don't remember much...I know he sedated me, came back the next day and took me out to the car..."

Munch paused again, gathering his thoughts slowly.

"He...he said he was going to kill me. And I _knew_ I had to fight back, I knew it was all I could do..." he drew in a sharp breath as he tried not to sob, but it was too late as tears came to his eyes and he couldn't hold it back any longer, it was sheer relief to know he had survived, and he guessed there was no point in fighting it, because he had to get these tears out, because he couldn't stop it from happening now.

" _I'm so glad it's over!"_ he said tearfully, and Lisa leant closer, cautiously placing her cheek against his, being careful of the bruises as she whispered to him that everything be okay, and then she gently wiped away his tears.

"It is over," she promised him, "You're safe now, John."

Then as Munch clung to her hand, his grip began to loosen as he slipped into an exhausted sleep, and as he rested, Lisa remained at his side, watching over him as he recovered.

* * *

It was just after ten that morning when the call came through to Cragen's office, and as soon as he had taken that call, he left his desk and went over to the others and shared the good news.

"I just got a call from the hospital. Munch is out of danger. He woke up, he spoke to Lisa, and it looks like he remembers everything that happened,too. But he's resting now he's going to need a great deal of rest – but thankfully he's going to make a full recovery."

And Fin breathed a relieved sigh as Liv smiled.

"Thank God," she said, "I couldn't sleep last night for thinking about Munch."

Cragen glanced about the squad room.

"Where's Eliot? He hasn't called in sick?"

"I don't know," Olivia replied, "Want me to give him a call?"

"No, I'm sure I'll hear from him soon enough," Cragen replied, and then he went back to his office.

"That was all I wanted to hear, I'm now a happy man!" Fin announced, "Munch is okay. _Now_ I can get on with my day."

And he picked up some case files, got up from his desk and walked away.

Then Liv's phone rang.

As Eliot's number flashed up, she answered quickly, keeping her voice low.

"Where are you, El? Cragen's looking for you!"

"I'm about to call in sick," he replied, "And I want you to leave in around half an hour. We need to meet, we need to talk."

Liv felt confused, because this did _not_ sound like the Eliot Stabler she knew so well, who never called in sick unless he had a damned good reason - and today, he sounded just fine as he spoke to her on the phone...

"I thought you said you were calling in sick? What's wrong?"

"I'm not sick," he replied, "I just need some time alone with you,I need to talk to you about what I've done, and where we go from here."

"What have you done?" Liv asked him. What he said next came as an unexpected shock:

" _I did it, Olivia,"_ he said to her, _"I told my wife I want a divorce. She's agreed to it. We're separating..."_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Olivia met with Eliot around lunch time, although she didn't feel like eating. She crossed the street, got into his car and sat there for a moment, saying nothing. And he just looked at her, and in his eyes, she saw no trace of regret.

Finally she spoke up, after considering the situation from all angles.

"Are you sure you've done the right thing?"

"Yes I am," El replied, "We've been drifting apart for a while. Kathy knows that as much as I do. And it's not always best for the kids to have parents stay together for their sake if the parents have lost their closeness."

"But that was lost before we ever started up," Liv reminded him, "I never want anyone to think I was the cause -"

"No one would think that, but even if they did, why do you care so much?"

"Because I want to be fair!"

"Has life been fair to us?"

She fell silent and then shook her head. Then she looked away for a moment, and when she looked back at him, she seemed more accepting of his choice, although deep down, she felt nervous about the potential fall out for all concerned...

"I never wanted to be the reason you walked away."

"And you're not. _I_ am the reason. _Me,_ I made the choice to end my marriage. And as for work, we don't have to tell anyone about us, we don't have to tell Kathy, either. I mean, eventually, we will - but after we've been divorced for a few months, there's no reason not to admit we're now together. No one gets hurt."

"And what about your kids, Eliot?"

"I'm not going to let them be hurt by this. I've already explained that we need time apart because sometimes, this happens, sometimes families get along better if Mom and Dad live apart. And Kathy's accepted it. I think she was expecting it to happen eventually."

Worry reflected in Liv's eyes.

"It doesn't make me feel any better about this."

"About what? Getting what you need and deserve in life,for once? You're entitled to happiness, Liv, and so am I!"

"I know that," she said quietly, and then Eliot put his arms around her, and as they embraced, Liv closed her eyes, still feeling too stunned to dare to believe it was true, because holding him, after all he had said felt so good, it felt like a happy ending for them - and although she had never admitted it to Eliot, this was all she had ever hoped for, deep down in her heart:

 _Maybe sometimes dreams did come true._

 _But she was still too nervous of the consequences to allow herself to feel too joyful over it..._

* * *

Three weeks passed by.

That time had gone slowly for Lisa, who had after two days, been allowed to return to the home she had shared with Greg before his arrest. And while she stayed there, she felt as if the place was haunted by the memory of all he had done...

It was worst of all when night fell, when she would imagine him in his bedroom, calmly making plans to try and kill John. And the kitchen was a place she could not enter until morning, because she was genuinely afraid of what was behind the cellar door, that dark, horrible place where Greg had left the man she loved bleeding and injured on the floor.

The place was full of bad memories, but there was nothing she could do about leaving until John was well enough to leave the hospital. The cops had left the place in a mess in their search for evidence, but she really didn't mind, because it gave her a chance to throw out what remained of Greg's belongings,and then to reorganise her own.

She had spent several days in the routine of packing and unpacking her bags. The sense of order it gave her killed her anxiety as she looked forward to getting out of this house and being with John once more.

She visited him every day, and swore to him that she was just fine.

But she wasn't, because all she could do when she got back home, after cleaning the kitchen till it stank of bleach, was to go upstairs, unpack and then pack again.

 _Her own private madness was getting back at her, this being the price she paid for all she had been through..._

But on the day she was due to leave,much of her fear slipped back for a while, and when Olivia turned up to pick up her cases, as she loaded them into the car, Lisa felt sure the last of the nightmare was over.

"Are you sure you've got everything?" Liv asked her.

Lisa looked back at the house and the thought of all that had happened there chilled her to the bone. If she had forgot anything, it could stay there, because she was never going back...

"Yes I think so," she replied, and then she got into the car and Liv started up the engine.

As they drove away, Lisa glanced back,as if to reassure herself they really were far from the house now, and then as she settled back in the seat, she breathed a relieved sigh and closed her eyes.

"Are you okay?" Liv asked.

Lisa's eyes were still closed.

"Yes,I just want to be away from that place, away from the memories of him...I want it all gone," she said, and then she opened her eyes once more and met with her gaze, then Liv looked back to the road ahead.

"I know John's well enough to go home, but will you need any help?"

"No," she replied, and to Liv, she had sounded nervous, and had given that answer a little too quickly and defensively, too.

"I know you've been through a lot -"

"No, John has been through a lot, _not_ me, I was on the outside of it. But it doesn't make me feel any better about it. I feel like it's all my fault for knowing Greg in the first place."

"But you had no way of knowing this would happen. You didn't even know the guy, you just thought you did."

"And I blame myself for that too," she said quietly.

Liv glanced at her and then looked back to the road.

"You shouldn't blame yourself. I've seen so many crimes and so many victims, in a way, you're as much a victim as Munch is. You both suffered. But you can't blame yourself, you have to move on. Munch seems to be making a great recovery, I went to see him a couple of days ago and he seems like he's getting over it."

"I think he is," Lisa agreed, "But he won't be able to really move on until the bruises have gone and the pain stops."

As they reached the hospital and Liv found a parking spot, she pulled into it and switched off the engine, then turned to Lisa.

"I know that," she said to her, "the fractures will take a few more weeks to heal."

"We're all fractured," Lisa said quietly, "Life does that to everyone, it happens one way or another. With me it was losing everything, making wrong choices...and just when things were going right, just when I thought the rest of my life would be better, when I thought I'd finally found happiness, Greg came along to try and ruin it."

Her eyes looked tearful.

Liv gave her a card.

"My number's on there. Call me any time you need to talk, even if you think it's not worth talking about - if you're struggling, if you're unhappy, call me, because I'm here for you both and I want to help."

"Thanks,"she replied, and she put the card into her pocket, and then they got out of the car and walked together towards the hospital.

* * *

A short while later as Liv drove Munch and Lisa home, she noticed Lisa's mood had brightened as she sat in the back of the car, her hand clasping his as she looked into his eyes and they spoke quietly together. Munch kept on reassuring her that he was fine now, but every time the car went over a bump or turned a corner, he slipped his hand inside his coat and pressed it to his ribs, where the healing fractures were causing him a considerable amount of pain.

His face was still marked by the remainder of fading bruises, but he was clearly much better now, and Liv didn't want to think about the mess he had been in three weeks before, because it made her feel too emotional.

Olivia drove them back to Munch's apartment, and then she reminded them both to stay in touch, and finally she was free to drive home, where Eliot Stabler was waiting for her at the end of a long shift.

It felt strange but wonderful to know that she was going home to El, and she was sure she would get used to it eventually – once she had got used to the idea that she really _could_ enjoy this happiness she had found, a happiness that wasn't going to disappear from her life – El was with her to stay, and she was starting to realise that now...

* * *

As soon as he closed the door to his apartment, Munch gave a weary sigh.

"You didn't have to carry the bags, I could have done that."

"No, you couldn't," she reminded him.

"I can cope!"Munch insisted, then he winced in pain as he took off his hat and hung it up, then reached for the buttons on his coat and as his cracked ribs ached painfully, he struggled to finish the job.

"I'll do it."

"Thanks," he said reluctantly, allowing her to unbutton his coat, then she helped him slip it off, and she hung it up in the hallway.

Munch leant against the wall, his hand still pressed to his side as he breathed out slowly.

"Do you need more painkillers?" she asked.

He shook his head.

"I can't take any more pills for another three hours. I need to go and lie down."

And then she put her arm around him, and although he didn't voice it aloud, he felt glad of her support as she walked with him to the bedroom.

Moments later he was giving into her again as she helped to undress him. He knew she worried, he knew she had been left very shaken by his ordeal, and admitting weakness was the last thing he wanted to do – but he was hurting,and she wanted to help him,and all he wanted to do now he was finally home,was to rest in his own bed and sleep and simply enjoy being home once more, even if the pain in his aching bones still reminded him of why he had been in the hospital for three weeks.

Munch took off his glasses and got into bed and gave a sigh as he felt comfortable at last, even the dull ache in his side couldn't take anything away from the fact that he was back home now and in his own bed once more.

He watched as Lisa picked up his clothing and started to fold and tidy and put it away.

"You don't have to do that now."

"Yes I do."

"No, you don't. Come here."

"You need to sleep."

"No, I don't! I needed to lie down, because it's slightly better than standing, sitting or moving around with a cracked rib."

"How bad is it?" she asked him as she sat on the edge of the bed.

He gave up on playing it down as he saw deep concern in her eyes and his own gaze softened as he thought again how much he loved her.

"Actually, it's killing me," he admitted, "But it's going to hurt before it gets better."

"I know," she replied, and she placed a hand on his chest as she ached to kiss him but felt maybe it was too soon, because he was still in a great deal of discomfort.

His gaze was dark and soft as he looked into her eyes.

"So what do you think?" he asked, hiding his own feelings about the bruises and the scars as he made light of it, "Am I still a sex symbol,or should I wait a couple of weeks for the bruising to fade and then ask you again?"

Lisa's gaze wandered over his face, where traces of bruising remained. Then she looked to the side of his head,where a wide scar looked fresh and below it, the surgical incision was still healing.

Munch briefly touched the scars, then he ran his fingers through his hair, partly hiding them.

"It's no big deal to me," he said to her, "The worst one was caused by the hammer - that was just a cut. The scar from the surgery is disappointingly small considering all I went through to get it, I won't even be able to brag about it when I go back to work!"

Lisa smiled on hearing that, and then she leant closer, taking hold of the covers and sliding them down his body.

He reached up and placed a hand on her hip as he looked into her eyes.

"While I'm recovering I think it's best if I just lie here naked and wait for the inevitable to happen. I'm fully prepared for the fact that you'll probably help yourself to my body, and I couldn't wish for a better way to forget my pain."

Then as she placed a gentle kiss on his bruised ribcage, he started to smile.

" _Take advantage of me,Lisa. Use me, take me over..."_

And then he laughed softly as she slid the covers all the way down, right off him, and the look of desire he saw in her eyes was an instant relief, because now he knew despite the bruises and the scars, she still wanted him as much as ever...

"Tell me," he said softly as she gently kissed down his body, "What are you planning to do to me?"

She kissed his erection and the touch of her soft mouth sent a shock wave of pleasure through his body that cancelled out all hint of pain.

She was on the bed now, gently spreading his legs wider apart and as she looked up at him, it took all of his self control not to let go and come, because that look in her eyes, the one that said she was hungry for him, and would have him because she was in control, was almost too much to think about...

Now he knew he was recovering, he felt like a missing piece was back because he was with the woman he loved and desperately aroused and aching for release, and it had been the first time since his ordeal that he had felt so turned on, so alive...

As she placed her hands gently on his hips, he closed his eyes,and the feel of her warm breath against him was almost too much to bear.

" _I'm going to suck you until you can't take any more,"_ she whispered, _"And when you've come, I'm going to start all over again. And if you don't like it, I shall hold you down and take over..."_

He gave a gasp as his cock grew painfully hard.

"Oh yes please!" he said, "Do what ever you want...I'm yours, _take_ me..."

And then she took him in her mouth, and he forgot all about his cracked ribs as she began to slide up and down the length of his solid erection. As she sucked harder, Munch reached up, grabbing at the pillows, resisting the urge to take over because as much as his body was screaming out for this, _nothing_ felt as good as the pure high of surrender to her, complete surrender, as he lay back and let her help herself to his body.

His breath came in short sharp bursts, as he gave in to the feeling of being on the brink of orgasm, and even aches and pains that ran deep would not deter him as he felt his climax rising.

As she sucked harder, he gave a sharp gasp, and could hold back no longer, throbbing hot into her mouth as she sucked and swallowed, and then as he sank back against the soft pillow breathing hard, she released him, kissed him down there one last time, and then as she shifted up the bed to join him, the feel of her arms around him made coming down from the rush beautiful and complete. She whispered that she loved him, and he placed his hand on top of hers, shifting it above bruising she had temporarily forgotten about in the heat of the moment.

"I love you too," he murmured,and then they lay together, wrapped in an embrace they had long missed, as they recovered from their first taste of passion in a long while, and then they both slipped into a deep sleep together.

* * *

In the middle of the night Munch woke up suddenly, and for a moment he was back in that cellar with Greg standing over him, and in that moment he felt the pain of his injuries fresh all over again. He saw the look in Greg's eyes, felt the pain and the anger and then the shock of knowing he may not live to see Lisa again.

Then as he turned over on his back and his ribs ached and Lisa gave a murmur and shifted closer to him, he realised he was safe at home, with the woman he loved beside him - and the pain he had felt so sharply in the dream was over now, because everything was mending.

But quite how long or how well it would mend, remained to be seen. As he lay there in the dark, he stayed awake long into the night, wondering how long it would take for the nightmares to fade away, because until that happened, he wouldn't truly have his life back the way it used to be, it wasn't yet set back to how it was before Greg Volkov had come along and shattered everything ...


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 _Time moved on._

The pain faded away and the bruises disappeared and Munch went back to work. Alex had assured him that Volkov would get the death penalty for the murder of his brother and for this attempt on the life of a police detective. And while it was clear he was guilty of, or at least involved in, the assaults and murders of several women, that couldn't be proven because he was not seen in the recordings, and because of this, there was lack of evidence. The woman who had escaped him was unable to take her assault case any further because she had not seen his face - and in a line up,when asked to identify his voice, she failed to pick him out - so it seemed he would be tried only on the charges of murder and attempted murder, leaving his sex crimes out of the matter.

It wasn't the result Munch had hoped for, but at least it looked to be the end of Greg Volkov – until he spoke to his lawyer and decided he wanted to make a deal – taking the death penalty off the table, in return for the names of his contacts who had an interest in the disc...

He was still looking at a life sentence. Greg would never get out of jail.

But it hadn't been a perfect conclusion, with so many crimes going unpunished. But it was the best result they could get...

* * *

Munch found his thoughts drifting to Volkov and how it had all turned out a few days after the trial had ended.

It was early morning and Munch was awake before Lisa, he watched her as she lay sleeping and then he looked up at the ceiling and reflected on everything, turning it all over in his mind.

The nightmares were fading now. These days he found he could go several nights without having a dream where Greg was standing over him, and these days those dreams, although becoming less frequent, still brought with them a flood of horrible memories when they did turn up.

 _He hadn't told Lisa._

In her eyes, he was a strong and resilient man, and to an extent, that was true. He didn't want to remind her he was also only human and the ordeal had left its mark, because she was fragile and broke easily and since he had recovered, she had been much brighter and more together, and he wanted her to stay that way.

He had never wanted to keep any secrets from her,and felt sure this would be the only one he ever kept - the truth, that her lover was just as human and capable of suffering damage as any other guy...

The scars had faded the bruises were gone, it was all just a bad memory that he had put in its place, in the past where it belonged - but those dreams, when they came to him, brought back the sharpness of the pain and the chill of fear.

He had talked about it, but counselling could only do so much and when he had told Fin about it, his partner had said it would fade out eventually. He wanted to think that Fin was right, but he still felt as if the door was not yet closed on the subject of Volkov. If he knew how to close it, he would have done it months back, but it was still partly open, letting the bad dreams creep in...

Lisa stirred, turned her head and as her eyes opened and she looked at him, she smiled, and then all thoughts of the past were forgotten, at least for a while.

"Do you ever have bad dreams?" he asked her, and surprise reflected in her eyes.

"What ever happened to _good morning_?"

"I was just wondering," Munch replied, and then as he drew her closer and she rested against the warmth of his body, she thought on his question.

"Do you mean random dreams or something more specific?"

As he looked into her eyes, he caught a flicker of something, it was there instantly and made him wonder if she had the nightmares, too. He also wondered if perhaps he never should have asked that question, because Greg and all that had happened was a subject Lisa never raised these days...

"I was just wondering if you still feel affected by what Greg did."

"Are you?" she said softly.

Now it was impossible to hide the truth.

"I sometimes have bad dreams...nothing I can't shake off, but now and then I _do_ relive it."

"Forget about it," she whispered,"Please, don't hold on to the past. I love you, John."

And then she drew him closer and kissed him, and he turned over, feeling instantly aroused as she slipped her hand down to his erection and started to stroke at his hardness.

She was taking over, and he lay back and enjoyed it as her fingertips brushed his nipples, then paused there to tease them, making his cock ache as it grew harder.

Lisa knew how to turn him on, and as she climbed over him and slowly lowered herself on to him, he caught his breath, because she moved so sharply, yet slowly, and when she did that and he closed his eyes he swore the warmth of her, the inside warmth that welcomed him, knew exactly how to tease him, too.

She moved slowly, deliberately, drawing out every moment of his pleasure as he whispered to her to help herself to his body. She took hold of his hands and held them down as she moved, he felt pinned and could have easily got out of it, but of course loved it far too much to ruin the moment.

Being dominated by her, having her take the lead, was so good it made him want to break the moment and turn her over and slam hard into her, losing all control as for once, he took charge – but holding back from doing that was a pleasure all of its own, the joy was in the complete surrender as he held back - and then finally, when he did lose control, he came hard and the orgasm that washed through his body left him weak and breathless in her arms.

And then after stealing more precious time embracing her, Munch kissed her softly and then left her embrace, to shower and get dressed and ready to face another day outside of the world they shared – which made everything else by contrast seem harsh, because he was never happier these days than when he was at home with Lisa.

* * *

After Munch had left for work, Lisa sat alone in the kitchen and thought on all he had said as she drank her morning coffee.

 _She hadn't known about the nightmares._

Lisa wondered if they would last for ever, and most of all, she wondered if she was to blame - because if not for her, perhaps he never would have encountered Greg Volkov...

And then she realised she was tearful again.

It had been a while since she had felt like that, and she didn't want to call Munch and ask him if he blamed her, so instead, she called the one person who had offered her help so long ago, the same person who had called often when Munch was recovering from his injuries – that person was Olivia Benson...

Liv had taken the call on the way to work, and then promised, if she was passing later that morning, she would stop off, but not until around eleven - _if_ she could get away.

And she did...

As she knocked on the door of the apartment, Liv felt concerned, because although Lisa had seemed at breaking point at the time Munch had been abducted, she had, despite her weakness, turned out to be very supportive and capable.

It worried her that Lisa would fall apart now, when everything seemed to be fine, but obviously it wasn't fine,or she wouldn't have called her...

When Lisa opened the door she smiled as she let her in, but Liv caught the trace of a troubled look in her eyes.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, and Lisa looked at her sadly.

"I'm not sure," she replied, and she led her through to the front room, where she sat on the sofa and Olivia joined her.

"Would you like some coffee?"Lisa offered, but Liv shook her head.

"I can't stay long. I have to be back at work soon. Just tell me, what's wrong?"

Lisa paused, then she reached for papers that were scattered about the table and hastily tidied them, stacking them and sorting them quickly.

"Sorry about the mess," she said, "I've been trying to start on my next collection but I can't write anything today..."

"Lisa," Liv placed her hand on her arm, and she stopped the frantic stacking of the papers, "What's on your mind?"

As she met her gaze, she shook her head and blinked away tears.

"He still gets bad dreams about Greg," Lisa said tearfully, "And I think its my fault. If it is, maybe I shouldn't be here, maybe I'm reminding him all the time, or...or maybe I'm bad luck -"

"No, you're not bad luck," Liv promised her, "You're the best thing that ever happened for Munch. You make him happy. And as for being unlucky, you certainly haven't been unlucky for me - after everything that happened it made Eliot think about what he wanted from life, and he got a divorce. We live together now. And you and Munch are happy, so you you haven't brought any bad luck on anyone. And as for reminding him of what happened, he had the closure he needed when Greg was sent to jail. The dreams are just his way of processing what happened to him. It's going to fade away eventually."

"Really?"

Liv nodded.

"Really," she promised her, "So please, don't get worked up. I think sometimes being creative must make you crazy when your mind gets full of the wrong ideas."

"It does," Lisa replied, "Sometimes it gets so crowded I can't find room to think."

The two women looked at each other, and Liv smiled.

"You don't need to worry," she promised her, "If Munch wasn't recovered, he wouldn't be back at work. And don't worry about the dreams - they will go away."

They talked some more for a short time, and then as Lisa walked with Liv to the door, she paused to hug her.

"Thanks for listening," she said.

Liv smiled.

"No problem - but please remember not to say a word about what I told you, about me and Eliot living together. He also rents a small apartment for work records to show that he has his own place. We can never let our boss know."

"I won't say a word,"she promised, and then she said goodbye, and Liv walked away, heading back to her car as she tried to think of an excuse for being gone from work for half an hour longer than she intended.

* * *

When Olivia Benson walked into the squad room, she realised she had no reason to find an excuse, because everyone was too busy to notice how long she had been gone. Munch was at his desk working on the computer, Fin was out of the room and Eliot was in the office talking to Cragen. Olivia sat down at her desk, and got on with some paperwork.

Eliot left Cragen's office, and glanced over to Liv and smiled, and she shot him a look with eyes filled with more love than words could convey, but then Cragen opened his door and called Eliot back, so he turned around and went back into the office.

"What is it, Cap?" he asked, and Cragen had the phone in his hand. He looked at it, and then shook his head and put it down, then looked back at Eliot Stabler and wondered how he ought to handle this:

He had just received a call from a woman, claiming to be a friend of Kathy Stabler, who said she wasn't best pleased with the reason why Eliot had ended his marriage. She claimed he had told Kathy he was now seeing Olivia Benson – but she was of the opinion that perhaps the two of them had been having an affair for _much_ longer.

And Cragen had recognised that voice, too:

 _The same woman who had once picked up the phone when Eliot and Kathy had been out, and he had been trying to reach him - a friend of Kathy who had been baby sitting the kids had answered it, with the same voice as the anonymous caller..._

"I just thought you might like to know two of your detectives are having an affair," she had said, "Eliot Stabler is seeing Olivia Benson."

And Cragen had put down the phone without speaking...

Eliot was still looking at him.

"Captain?" he said again, "You wanted something?"

Cragen was thinking of Benson and Stabler and what a fine team they made. He also thought about the strict no relationship with colleagues policy, and then reflected that the caller was most likely right, it had probably been going on for several years, but he saw no evidence of it affecting their work yet...

"Nothing," Cragen replied, "I thought I had some more paperwork for you related to a case but it seems I was wrong. Sorry about that."

"Okay," El replied, "I''ll get back to work, then."

And Cragen watched him walk off, and then he looked to the phone, wondered how many more times he would have to hang up on the nameless caller, and he gave a sigh. It wasn't easy being a captain and having to make difficult choices, but regarding Benson and Stabler, he was sure he had done the right thing, to say nothing about it...

* * *

Six Months Later:

After he had survived the ordeal of his abduction and the damage he had sustained from his injuries - and those injuries had taken time to heal – John Munch had never expected that one day, he would choose to go to Rikers and visit the man who had tried to kill him.

But that day had come, not because he wanted to forgive him, or because he wanted to hear his reasons for all he had done, it was nothing like that at all.

Munch had _one_ reason only for visiting Greg Volkov, and he did not reveal it until he was alone with him in a dim room where the prisoner's side was split up from the visiting side by a secure mesh barrier of fencing. He could see Volkov, but Volkov couldn't touch him.

Not that he was concerned for his safety. There were prison guards in the room by the door, and he didn't care either that they would hear every word he said, because he had figured something out, and all he needed was one conversation with Greg to confirm that he was right...

As Munch sat there and looked at the man behind bars whose eyes shone darkly with something he could only think of as evil, he felt no fear.

"What do you want?" Greg asked him as he sat there, "If it's not about a deal to get me out of here, I've nothing to say."

"You will never, ever get out of here," Munch promised him, "But I didn't come here to gloat. Well, maybe I _did_."

Greg met his gaze and stared hard at him, taking in the sight of the man he had once left for dead, who sat there looking immaculate in his suit as he regarded him thoughtfully from behind the tinted lens of his glasses.

"What do you want?" Greg demanded.

"I just wanted you to know that I've worked out your real motive," he replied, "Yes, knowing I worked in a department dealing with sex crimes was a reason to eliminate me but that wasn't your main reason. _You loved her, didn't you_."

As he saw anger sparking Greg's eyes, he knew it was true.

"So, I was almost killed over good old fashioned jealousy?" John said in surprise, "Not the way I want to go, killed by a jealous guy my girlfriend kept firmly in the friend zone? That would have been so boring, a truly lousy exit."

Greg was shaking with rage as his eyes darkened.

" _If I could reach through this cage I'd kill you!"_ he said sharply.

And as he looked at the man who had haunted his nightmares, John smiled.

"Like it?" he asked him, and flashed an engraved wedding band he wore on his left hand, and then he leant closer and spoke in a low voice:

" _Me and Lisa got married three weeks ago. She makes me happy and I love her, and I just wanted you to know that nothing you did to me,nothing you put me through, will ever affect me or take away from my happiness. Think about that while you're rotting in jail forever. I'm going home now, I'm going home to make love to my wife."_

Then as Greg lunged at the bars and the guards grabbed him and pulled him back, Munch got up and walked away, waiting to smile until he had turned his back on the man who was yelling _bastard_.

Then he walked away, and as he left, he turned his thoughts to home, where he was now headed, and as he thought of his wife, he felt his heart glow through with love. He knew the past would no longer haunt him now, because he had proved he was right – it _was_ all down to jealousy, and Volkov had lost, and he had won.

It felt so good to know he had been right, and as he left the prison he felt that door to the past close behind him once and for all, and in that moment, Munch knew it would be okay - Greg Volkov would never, ever haunt him in dreams again.

End.


End file.
